


As Long as Stars are Above You

by Hashtag_DriveBy



Series: Turtle Shells and Dragon Tales [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Bay Movies), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Duty, Baby Venus, Bay-verse with details from other continuations, Big Brother Leo, Big Brother Raph, Casey is a unicorn, Cute baby shenanigans, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Gen, Good Parent Splinter (TMNT), Green Hockey Puck, Little Houdini, Little Sisters, Little Squirt, Little sister Venus, Mini-Nin, Protective Older Brothers, Shell-Raiser in Training, Splinter and April shake their head in the background, Splinter is too old for this, That's the boys trying to keep track of Venus, Tiny Sidekick, With the sound effects and everything, You know that scene in the Snow White cartoon where the soap bar keeps flying out of Dopey's hands, big brother donnie, big brother mikey, the boys don't know what they're doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18965584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtag_DriveBy/pseuds/Hashtag_DriveBy
Summary: He was out of the kitchen in a breath, cutting around the corner sharply just as Venus made her way across the floor and squeezed under the couch.  Leo jumped over it without touching it and squatted to intercept her on the other side.  She didn't come popping out into his hands and it took him a moment to realize that he could hear her shell thunking rapidly away."Did you just bait me?!"  Leo said, bewildered.  He went around the couch and sure enough, Venus was making tracks in the opposite direction like her life depended on it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my latest labor of love! I'm so glad you're here!
> 
> A quick break down of what you're getting into here:  
> *This story-line takes off after 'Out of the Shadows', so the boys are each 17-18 years old and maturing into young men.  
> *If you came here looking for brotherly bonding, you found it.  
> *There is a lot of communication/learning how to communicate here, and not much combat or action  
> *April is in regular contact with them, as expected, and has taken on the role of a bigger sister that looks after each of them and occasionally mothers them when needed.  
> *Though there is no romantic plot of this story, there may or may not be hints of a relationship with April and Casey, or there might not be at all. We'll see.  
> *Venus is an infant, within a few months of age, but rapidly developing to adapt due to her mutation.  
> *There may or may not be a follow-up to this story. I have ideas but I haven't decided if they're right or not for the plot.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Few things shocked or deterred Ana Roe, a self-proclaimed (and proven) powerhouse in her field. Not her demanding peers, not the blatant sexism she was still smacked with on a daily basis and not that one frustratingly annoying red-headed college student that had come into their offices earlier that morning to ask too many questions about their 'projects'. Not to say that it was impossible- there was, in fact, one thing that could regularly make her question herself or provide questions she had no idea how to answer. It was one of those said 'projects' they had safely buried deep beyond the public offices and lobby. 

She was supposed to be there, exactly where she was headed now after being called away from her work, with arms laden with various types of food for herself, the staff that worked with her closely and their anomaly. The walk through the facility was a familiar one, and she made it back to her lab in record time. 

As soon as she was in their respective wing, she dropped all food items in the kitchen area of the lobby and separated meals out. She left their, including hers, lunches lined up on the counter, but took the vegetables and raw protein items to thoroughly rinse and place in sterilized containers. She took the bins and rolled them unto a belt that will take them through a box to be scanned. Then she attended to herself, changing into lab appropriate clothing once more and scrubbing her hands from fingers to elbow until her skin tingled. 

She crossed the painted line on the floor and stood patient on the other side to be scanned in the same manner, holding still through the light show that played across her white scrubs. The food was cleared, and a minute later so was she. She retrieved the bin, nodded at an assistant who was eyeballs-deep in examining tissue samples and blood work from the anomaly, made her way across and into the next thresh hold where she repeated the same process. 

Ana walked through and finally rested her eyes on the ventilated plexi glass that walled in a seven-by-seven foot corner, carefully avoiding looking anywhere near the UVB and florescent bulbs attached to the ceiling, providing warmth and the crucial conversion of cholesterol to vitamin D3 in the anomaly's skin. The walls were barren, transparent on two of the four walls, with the far walls made of white plaster. The floor was also white, tiled, and clear of obstruction besides a small pool of appropriately treated water that's safe for the anomaly's body and a plush pet bed that one of the assistants bought new for the anomaly to sleep in. 

The anomaly itself is submerged as much as it's allowed to in the water, all limbs and head tucked under with nothing but a brightly colored carapace breaching the surface. At a glance, with no prior knowledge of the anomaly, it would easily be mistaken as a very large, mature aquatic turtle that had somehow still retained the brightness of the marks it had as a hatchling. 

Ana stood observing it through the window. As always, the sight of such an amazing creature rose questions and an insatiable curiosity. Sometimes, she could hardly breathe in it's presence, the existence of such an animal completely unheard of. Yet, while she stood there, lost in all of the possibilities the anomaly opened the world to, the anomaly itself stayed perfectly still in the water. Sleeping, perhaps, or reverting to base instinct that told it to hide in the water for safety. 

"Anything?" Ana asked to anyone that was listening. 

"It hasn't moved since this morning." Someone called back, the young man that had been working the slides through a microscope. 

That didn't bode well. It was now late afternoon, and it'd spent the majority of it's day cycle in the pool. Turtles, even aquatic ones, needed to come out routinely to dry out and bask or else their health would decline. Though it could be treated as an experiment to see if the anomaly followed those needs or if the mutation made it different, Ana was protective of it. She wanted it to be safe, to grow and pave the way to new discoveries. 

"We'll see if it comes out to eat," Ana said, checking her watch rather than stepping into the 'glass box' like she wanted to. 

Since the day the hatchling, still small and seemingly normal, came into their care they'd put it on a strict routine of timed visits, feedings, water changes and exams. Fifteen minutes until it was time to feed. She settled for standing and observing from where she was, squinting through the pristine plexi glass at the anomaly's shell. The base color was green, of course, of a few different shades that warped and swirled into each other and brighter curls of yellow. It was difficult to discern if there was any irregularities or discoloration in it's shell. 

Fifteen minutes passed. She adjusted the container of food and stepped inside. Ana caught sight of faint ripples in the water and noticed that the anomaly had slid back into the far corner of the tub and as far out of reach as it could get, which wasn't far. 

Ana squatted beside the pool and dug into the box of food for romaine. She held it low over the surface of water and waited. If there was one personality trait that the anomaly had kept through the initial stages of mutation and growth, it was the appetite that turtles were famous for. It was like a flip switched in its brain. As soon as food was offered, whatever else it was thinking or feeling was shucked to the back burner and feeding became the priority. The anomaly would even come toward them to eat, following the offered food even if it meant crawling into their lap or subjecting itself to being handled, before snapping it's head forward to take the item and retreat back into the water where it could tear it apart and eat with three-clawed hands. 

Ana waited, expectant. 

The anomaly didn't move. 

Frowning, she strained to hold the greens closer to the anomaly. It didn't do anything but retreat more into its shell. Seconds turned to minutes. Ana lowered the food back to her lap, waited a few more minutes, then offered it again. Nothing. Alarm started to sink in, lighting up all of her nerves over the wrongness of the anomaly rejecting any form of sustenance. She tried tearing up the pieces, baffled, and floated them in the pool. 

When that didn't work, Ana reached into the pool and hefted the twenty-three pound anomaly with both hands, holding it suspended over the pool so the water running out of its shell joined the rest. Then she brought it closer, "Why aren't you eating?"

The anomaly didn't answer. All Ana could see of it were the tips of the fingers, and the yellow striped, tiny slitted nose. 

"Ger," Ana called, raising her voice to be heard outside of the enclosure. She turned the anomaly around to examine the shell, running blunt fingertips over the colorful scutes. Nothing seemed out of place physically. 

"Ana?" A man in his late forties arrived, standing outside of the door with his brows raised. "What is it?"

"Its not eating," Ana said, flipping the anomaly over to look at the plastron, felt the limbs hidden behind it wiggle. A leg kicked out, as long as her forearm, chubby and infant like, then the other and both arms until the anomaly was flailing wildly in distress. 

Ana tightened her grip and shifted to avoid being struck and held it on its back until she was satisfied that there was no damage there, either. A tiny, two-toed foot landed against her collar and pushed with feeble strength. Ana allowed it to right itself, staring at the smooth-skinned, lumpy head and wide eyes that was already pulling back into the shell. 

"Not eating?" Gerry frowned. "It hasn't basked yet, either. Is it sick?”

"I don't know." Ana said, "No signs of outward injury or symptoms besides the loss of appetite and lethargy."

Now that it was upright again, all limbs vanished back into the shell. Ana balanced the plastron on her palm so she had a free hand to rifle through the food. She set the anomaly back down in the water and watched as it sank to the bottom and didn't move. She dropped some protein items in, and the furrow between her brows deepened with confusion when the anomaly rejected these, as well. 

"Odd," Gerry said. "I've never seen it turn down food before."

"I haven't either." Ana eyed their charge, "it's stressed, but I don't know from what. We'll weigh and measure it, draw some blood."

"I'll get the scale ready," Gerry moved away at an almost-scurry. 

Ana set the food aside, plucked what was left floating from the water and dropped it into the container. Then she hefted the anomaly out of the water a second time and carried it out of the enclosure, asking another co-worker to empty, clean and refill the pool water as well as wipe down the inside of the enclosure with animal-safe disinfectant. 

The weight and length of the anomaly was satisfactory, and matched the pattern of past measurements. The blood work, when it was finished hours later, was also okay. Ana stood outside of the plexi glass while she heard the numbers, watching as the anomaly hid in the water, completely ignoring the food floating overhead. 

The next day, the behavior continued, and Ana began to worry. She broke their careful routine to take out the pool and force the hatchling to dry out and bask for thirty minutes. The anomaly remained tucked in the shell, not daring to stretch out like it had so many times before. 

On the third day, the annoying college girl returned and set Ana up for a long and difficult day. She was harder with her responses then passed her off to colleagues like she was a baton in a marathon. The anomaly's bizarre behavior continued. They had to break the pool down again to get it out of the water. 

Despite their efforts, Ana noticed the first spots of discoloration that could evolve into shell rot. She was frustrated and worried and fascinated all at the same time, because as difficult as it was observing an unwilling test subject, she couldn't deny that these were new experiences for all of them, and there was no guarantee of how the anomaly would react or recover from them. 

The fourth day, the anomaly grew weak. While it made an effort to hide all of it's limbs, it was too tired to keep its legs folded into the shell and they eased out over time behind it, limp and motionless. Ana cursed. It wasn't eating, and it wasn't making an effort to bask or even run from them like it was supposed to. She called her assistants and colleagues into the lab to discuss their discoveries, opinions and options. 

Late that evening, she was roused from a well-deserved tv marathon in bed by an alert from the laboratory security system and rushed to meet the authorities there in her pajamas.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slow going through that first chapter, but things should be smooth sailing from now on! A personal thank you to everyone that decided to continue reading. I hope everyone's doing well and taking care of themselves. 
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of experimentation, starvation and other levels of poor health, Daddy Splinter, Doctor Donnie, and the one and only Turtle Huddle.
> 
> Enjoy!

April moved through the facility, sure footed and silent in her sneakers and sweats. She reminded herself to start a running tally on how many labs she ended up breaking into for whatever reason, because it was apparently going to be a reocurring theme in her cases. 

Her search took her through multiple labs, each one dedicated to one or two major projects in different branches of the same field. There were many animals here, test subjects that looked miserable and defensive when she shown her flash light on them. Her heart broke for every one of them, but there was nothing she could do for them unless she somehow busted the company for something they clearly shouldn't be doing. Which was exactly what she was looking for and dammit, she would find it. 

She'd spent too much time trying to needle her way in, to gather intel through reconnaissance, infiltration and research. Underhanded approaches like that were necessary, they were how she really solved her important cases, but there was a voice, an instinct, that screamed relentlessly in her bones that she didn't have the time to do this right. She didn't know what it was or where it came from, only that she needed to listen to it. 

From the beginning, the company stank of trouble. She'd caught wind after the Kraang tried to invade New York City that samples of the ooze, the mutagen, had survived. Whether it was from Shredder's and Krang's team up, or if it came from before when Shredder almost killed her boys by draining them dry, she didn't know and she didn't really care. She just needed to find it and eliminate it, and her search, combined with her extended family's efforts, had led her here. 

So she had broken in without a word of warning to her four guardian angels, and she was glad that she hadn't. The facility was massive, but the hallways and labs were compact, designed to house a very small, select group of specialists and their projects. As stealthy as they all were, if a fight broke out it would be easier for her to escape than it would have been for four giant mutants to navigate too-small spaces in a rush while people were attacking them. 

April's search took her deep into the facility, past several sections and labs, until she was at the very end in a much larger space, dedicated to the most important of their experiments. The doors were locked down, but it only cost a few minutes of patience for April to bypass them using some of the tech Donnie had gifted her over the years. 

She had to do it once more at the next door, then she was slipping inside and staring at room that was half glass cage and half every other laboratory she'd ever seen. The cage drew her eyes instantly. It was larger and different than the others she'd found that night. Ventilated glass instead of stainless steel bars. Wide and tall, easily over six feet around and so tall it was connected to the ceiling. A cage big enough to hold something huge, but empty when she first looked at it. 

April stepped closer, eyes roving from top to bottom until she saw it- a dark, roundish shape in a pool of water on the floor. Or, mostly roundish. There were limbs hanging out, two legs stretched out behind the main body that at first made her think she was looking at the world's biggest bullfrog. 

Then she knelt down, squinting in the almost-darkness of the lab, and her breath seized in her chest when she made out the familiar dome of a shell. The legs were chubby with baby fat and short, but had two toes spread out on each foot. There were two arms, too, that were curled under the plastron. 

"Oh my god," April whispered, breathing in too fast and too hard, "oh my god."

She reached for the door without thinking, freezing when it tripped an alarm that sang relentlessly overhead. She jumped and looked down in time to see the -her mind choked on the word, on the realization- the turtle also jump and weakly pull it's limbs in. April felt the door lock, and dug through her bag for something that would help. Precious minutes slipped past while she fumbled with the door, determined to get it open even if it took all night, a trip to the police department or having to call the cavalry in. 

After her third attempt, the door unlocked with a click and she yanked it open. April all but fell into the cage, dipping her hands into the water until she was holding the little turtle, an almost perfect miniature of the boys, and lifted it from the water. The legs tried to kick out defensively, but the movements were lethargic. 

A tiny hand gripped her shirt and April was shouldering her way awkwardly out of her jacket one sleeve at a time. She swaddled the baby up in it, tucked it in against her chest, and raced out of the lab just as the sound of police sirens outside wailed into range. April shifted her precious cargo to one arm to hack the emergency door open, then burst out the other side and into the damp, night air. 

April ran, cutting through narrow spaces and questionable alley ways, thanking her past self for taking the time to memorize multiple escape routes in case she needed them. She was gone with a head start by the time they even realized what was missing. She didn't stop to breathe until she found a manhole cover in a location she knew and managed to pry it open by herself while no one was looking. 

April slipped down into the darkness below, knowing the placement of ladder rungs from memory. She had to balance leaning enough weight on her front against them to keep the baby secured while she hauled the cover back over with both hands, once again praising her earlier decision to start working out and building up her body strength after reuniting with the turtles. 

Then she was down on her feet at the bottom, ignoring the dampness and stink of the sewers, and made her way deep into the systems. Half way to the lair, she felt the little one kick stubbornly at the confines of her jacket, and paused to gently unwrap the child. She couldn't see her own hand in front of her face, but she held the wiggling baby firmly, being overly careful not to tip it too far unto it's back, and smoothed her hand down the shell for marks. 

It felt whole, but there were small slices that her fingers caught on, and uneven patches on her carapace. Small, three fingered hands pushed back at her feebly, and April found herself smiling. 

"Shh," She said softly, sitting the baby more upright. She felt down the flailing limbs next and was relieved to find no breaks, though they felt too slender and the skin felt loose. Her experience with baby mutant turtles was nonexistent, so she wasn't sure if it was supposed to be like that or not. Splinter would know, though. If anyone could help it? It was the boys. 

April hummed softly to the baby while she wrapped it back up and tucked it back under her chin where it was safe, wrapped in both arms. It struggled for a moment more then stilled with an audible huff. They went on their way, with April singing all of the best pop hits from her childhood under her breath. 

April slipped into the lair and found the usual nonsense going on. Michelangelo was doing laps on his board while Raphael and Leonardo sparred below and Donatello and Splinter were tucked away out of sight. Mike saw her first and hollered out a greeting mid-stunt. April stopped inside, breath held for the second time that night as the gravity of what she carried, of what this meant, hit her. She just stared at them for a moment, frozen in place. 

"Yo, April! April?" Mike called out again, slowing down to look at her. The wide smile on his face dimmed when he saw her standing wide eyed and paralyzed. 

He dropped smoothly to the ground, "Hey! What is it?" He slipped right through the match, drawing his elder brothers' attention, and hurried toward her. 

April finally took a breath. She looked at him, at the way his hands flexed nervously and his eyes darted across her face then her body, looking for anything out of place. April shifted her cargo to one arm and reached out to gently grip his arm. The movement drew his eyes and now he was staring at the baby, who was almost completely covered besides the top edge of the carapace. 

“I need to talk to Splinter," April said, somehow keeping her voice even. Mikey wasn't taking his eyes away from what she was holding, oddly still and quiet. 

"April?" Leo approached next, Raph at his shoulder. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know," April said honestly, "Where's your dad?"

"I am here," Splinter made his way toward them from across the lair, slipping around all of his sons. With him came Donnie, who first hung his head out of the garage, then actually stepped out when he saw the worried huddle across the room. 

"I," April took a breath, tightening her hold on the baby, "I broke into the labs I was researching."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Leo said, "we could have-" He went quiet when Splinter placed his hand on his shoulder and nodded at her to continue. 

"I found something." April said, "I didn't know what else to do." 

Then, slowly, she unlocked her arms and held the baby out toward him. Splinter unwrapped the now wet jacket and the stillness that fell over the lair at the reveal was terrifying. 

April, now that she could actually see, looked down at the baby and saw it once again doing its best to tuck and hide despite not having the strength to do it. Legs that were curled loosely up, arms that were hugging its plastron weakly and shivering. It made her heart ache, made her eyes go hot with tears and boiled her blood all at once. What was it doing there? What had they done to it?

Splinter reached out with both hands and first smoothed them over the shell, then curled his fingers around the legs and down to the feet. The baby jolted and tried to pull away. Splinter hushed it softly, then said, "She is very weak."

"She?" April whispered, because she already knew that the child was weak. She'd known it the second she saw her, but she hadn't even thought to check for a gender yet.

"Yes," Splinter started to check her over the same way April had tried to in the tunnels, and she tried to turn away from him and further into April's chest. "Weak, cold, hungry. She was not taken care of. Come, bring her this way." 

Splinter turned to lead and the older turtles parted without a word for them. April rested the baby against her chest again, gently scraping her nails across the carapace in an attempt to soothe as those tiny feet pushed against her stomach. She tired too easily, legs going slack until her heels were propped on April's hips. 

Splinter motioned for Donatello to follow them, which he already was. So were the others, each shocked into rare, complete silence. They guided her to the infirmary, which was a small corner curtained off by patched shower curtains. Donnie moved ahead to slide the curtains open, then slipped around them and hurried to set up a portable basking lamp over a threadbare cot. 

"Lay her down," Donnie said, "on her plastron."

April did, untangling her limbs from her shirt and gently settling her on her front under the lamp. She moved out of their way but hovered nearby while Donnie and Splinter bent to examine her shell and the lighter patches that splotched across it. 

"Shell rot," Donnie said, tension creeping into his voice, "and she's starving." 

"What can I do?" April asked. 

"What can we do?" Raph echoed, unable to look away. 

"I don't know if she'll eat," Donnie said, "or if she'd be able to stomach it right now. Do you have any idea what they were feeding her?"

"No. I didn't get anything off the hard drives. I triggered the alarms trying to get her out of the cage. There wasn't enough time."

Donnie was already working on cleaning up her shell, making the effort to be gentle and efficient. The baby came to life under the attention and struggled against him with everything she had. April reached out to hold her still, "It's okay, baby. Just sit still. It'll be over soon."

She gave up after a few minutes, settling for pulling her arms and legs in close. April realized that she had yet to see her face, since her head was the only part of her body she'd kept tucked in her shell this entire time. 

"Michelangelo," Splinter said, "bring a clean blanket." His youngest son scurried off. 

"How did you find her exactly?" Leo asked. 

April took a breath and detailed her break in to them while Donnie treated the shell rot and went on with the examination. He checked her limbs, and she let him, too tired to fight. 

"No breaks, bumps or wounds." He paused at a dark bruise on the inside of her arm. He tried to draw the limb out and straighten it, but she started fighting with new fervor until he let her slip free. "They were drawing blood."

"She was just an experiment to them," April said, anger heating her words, "you should have seen what they had her in, I..." She trailed off when she realized that, years ago, she had seen these very guys in glass boxes themselves while they were experimented on. She closed her mouth and shut her eyes and focused on breathing for a moment. "She's just a baby." They were all just babies, even the boys. 

"She's going to be okay," Donnie said softly, confident like he was already completely invested, "we're going to take care of her."

"We are," Splinter confirmed. 

It was then that the youngest brother came pounding back into the room, a worn but clean fleece blanket in his arms. It was so old that the colors and pattern had faded into colorless stripes. Splinter took the fabric from him and after getting a nod from Donnie, he was properly swaddling her up in it with a few practiced sweeps of his arms. Since Donnie was busy washing his hands, Splinter offered her instead to Leonardo, who froze with his eyes wide and breath held until Raph elbowed him. 

Slowly, in the most hesitant, staggered motions she'd ever seen the turtle make, Leo took the baby and listened to Splinter as he directed him on holding her properly. Leo followed the instructions perfectly, stepping back to give them room when Splinter motioned for April to follow him, speaking as they left the infirmary, "We are neither equipped nor prepared for an infant. She will require items that we cannot retrieve on our own. Not soon enough."

“Whatever you need," April said earnestly, "just make me a list and I'll make sure she gets it."

"Thank you," Splinter's voice softened with fondness. 

Leo and his brothers, almost as one complete huddle of mutants with each bent over his shoulders to stare at what he held, shuffled after them. Splinter and April were moving through the lair with rushed footsteps, so Leo headed to a place out of the way and parked it. He turned his full attention down. Swaddled like she was, the only part of the baby visible was the curved lip of her carapace and the dark, yellow striped skin of her shoulders. 

His mind, his chest, was a mad cyclone of thoughts and feelings. All running through him so fast and so violently that he couldn't process any of it. Mike leaned against his shoulder and reached a hand out to gently trace a finger tip over her exposed carapace with upmost care. The youngest brother cooed down at her, "Aw. She's so little."

"We won't know how old she is until we run our own tests," Donnie said, keeping his voice soft, "but not right now. If...if what April told us is anything to go by, she's been through enough of them, and none of them were done with her best interest in mind."

"No more tests," Leo said, voice unusually thick. 

Their father made the list and passed it off to April while she made her way back to the entrance. She paused to check in on the baby one last time, squeezing Leo's shoulder as she did. 

"April, can you add a few more things?" Donnie asked. April told him yes, but the rest of the conversation drifted through Leo's ears without being heard. 

Soon she was gone, and left just the four of them huddled over a tiny version of themselves and their father, still busy in the lair. 

"We need to break into that lab," Donnie said suddenly, finally drawing all of their attention, briefly, from the little one. Leo looked at him, and the younger continued, "if we can download their logs on her we'll know about her history, what she's eating and other details that would be good to have."

"So we're not guessing," Mikey clarified, "You think they'll still have that stuff after April tripped the alarms? Wouldn't they, like, cover their tracks and wipe the hard drive or something?"

"We don't have much of a choice but to look," Leo said, giving the youngest a nod of approval for his insight. 

"If we go back now that place'll be crawling with cops," Raph said, speaking up for the first time since April made the big reveal. "There's no way we'll bust in without getting caught."

"Not tonight." Leo agreed. For now, they would have to settle for fussing over her. Later, they would strike.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!
> 
> Chapter warnings: Terrible baby names, an insult to classic gaming, the boys being boys.

Leo was still holding her when April returned, and his brothers were still standing nearby like sentries while Splinter spoke gently to them. As soon as she entered, making her presence known with a huff when she almost dropped one of the many bags she'd carried down, it was like a flip switched and the three turtles not carrying an infant came rushing over to her to help. 

"You coulda called us for help," Raph rumbled, taking most of the load in one fistful. 

April sighed in relief, "I handled it. And I ordered pizza, so someone will have to go pick it up-" She laughed when Mike enveloped her suddenly in both arms. 

"Ape, I love you," He said dramatically. 

"Love you, too." She said easily, patting his arm when he let her go and skipped around her to run after Raph. 

"Hey! We got pizza to pick up, bro!"

Raph huffed and said something snappy back but April's attention shifted to Donnie, who slipped the rest of the bags from her arms, "How is she?"

"No change," Donnie said, pushing his glasses up with his free hand, "Leo's had her this entire time and I don't think she's moved since we treated her."

April slowed her steps down, taking the moment to look over everyone. "How are your brothers? I know that this is a lot."

Donnie was quiet for several seconds. when she glanced at him, she saw his chin tucked and brow furrowed like he was examining a puzzle that he had yet to work out. "Leo's still in shock. He doesn't know what to do. Raph is...trying to keep his distance, I think. He's quiet. Mike loves her. Since you've been gone he's been coming up with names. Kinda surprised he hasn't asked to hold her yet."

"And you?"

"...Undecided." Donnie fidgeted with his hands a little, a gesture she hadn't seen him make for a few years. Her boys had all done a lot of growing up since she met them, but April reminded herself that at seventeen, almost eighteen, they were still babies themselves. April took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His fingers closed around hers and returned it. "We know that other mutants are possible. We've already encountered them. I just never thought that we'd find someone like, well, like us."

"And so young," April said softly. 

"We don't even know if she was born as a turtle or a human," Donnie continued, "if she had a family or not. I won't know until we have the research."

That surprised her. April had expected him to run all of his own tests on her as soon as possible. When she looked at him in question, he shook his head. "Leo won't allow any tests."

"Okay." She didn't let go of his hand until they were closer to the others and he needed to separate to take stock of her purchases. She went to Leo then, resting a hand on his arm while she looked down at the baby. Her voice went quiet when she asked, "How is she?"

"I don't know." 

April looked up and saw actual terror in Leo's eyes. His gaze landed on hers for a second then dropped down to his arms again. Raphael and Michelangelo left the lair with a few hollered words about picking up the pizza. Splinter moved from their side to help Donnie go through the bags. 

"Leo," April said gently, lifting her hand to rest against the side of his face. "Hey. What is it?"

"I don't know," He said again. His tone was desperate. "I don't...what is happening, April?" His voice. His eyes. Like the world as he knew it was crumbling to ash around him. Which, in a way, was exactly what was happening. April smoothed her thumb under the edge of his mask.

"It's going to be okay, Leo," She soothed. 

"I-" Leo froze. April looked down in time to see the bundle of fleece wiggling. A little at first, then bigger movements as she put maximum effort into freeing herself. The old fleece gave beneath her movements and a tiny hand burst free, thunking against Leo's plastron. The baby went still the same way Leo had, and April cracked a smile at the image. 

Silence fell between them as they waited. After a minute, the fingers flexed and the struggling began anew. Leo looked at April, "What should I do?"

April opened her arms in answer and he slowly, almost reluctantly, passed her over into April's hands. April started to unwrap her until there were legs wildly kicking in the air until they found purchase against her waist. April 'oofed', smile going soft, "So little but so strong. You're a little shell raiser already, aren't you?"

Leo watched closely, radiating intensity. The baby rested for a moment, the only movement being the curl of her toes or the closing of her fingers. Then, so slowly that April wasn't sure anything was happening at first, she started to push her head out until two, wide dark eyes were staring at them. Leo and April stopped breathing. She felt tears pricking her eyes when the baby just...stared at them. 

Splinter slipped into their circle again, liquid smooth and silent. The baby couldn't even track his movements, still staring blankly at the two of them. Without speaking, he slipped a leaf of freshly rinsed romaine lettuce into the baby's open hands. She tensed, fingers slowly closing around the leaf. Splinter retracted his hands and stood beside Leo. Donnie joined them after a moment, staying quiet and moving to not draw attention to himself. They all watched eagerly as she repeatedly squeezed and released the leaf, testing it. 

A little more of her face emerged until, finally, she popped her head completely out and turned it to look down at what was in her hands. April bit down on the 'awww' that wanted to burst out of her at the sight. The leaf was raised with the concentrated effort of both hands and pressed gracelessly against her face before she even opened her mouth to eat. She went back to watching them out of the corner of her eyes when she first loudly sniffed then started to snack on it. 

Relief bled through April. She grinned triumphantly at the others, seeing all of them wearing different expressions of softness and victory. The first leaf vanished quickly and before she could even look for more, Splinter slid another into her grip and she went to town on it. She ate three in a row before he stopped feeding her, giving the slightest nod of approval at her appetite. 

"Well," Donnie said under his breath, "thats a good sign."

The baby ducked her head at the sound but didn't fully retract. 

"She's going to be alright," April said quietly, smiling when the baby turned her head to eye her at the sound of her voice, "Hi, baby. Were you hungry?"

She just stared back at her blankly, hands curled against her plastron. 

*-*-*-*

"Okay, okay, I hear you bro, but I really think we should name her-"

"I swear to god if you say one more stripper name I'm going to pound you."

Michelangelo switched the pizzas to his other hand while he zipped through the tunnel, "I wasn't gonna! If you'd just listen to me, I was going to say somethin' like May. Or June. Orrrr-"

"What, like after April?"

"Why not?" Mike shrugged at him, "She found her."

Raphael considered it then shook his head. "All of those games and comics, and you can't think of anything more creative than that?"

Another shrug. "Well, could call her Peach-"

"No."

"Zelda?"

"I thought Zelda was the dude's name."

Mike looked like he was in physical pain. "Raphie, you are killing me right now."

"Oh, I'm killing you? We talk about names for a baby and your first suggestions are 'Cinnamon' and 'Chastity'."

"Cut me a break. It's not like we know enough girls to have any better ideas." Mikey huffed, "and why am I the only one contributing? You keep shooting down my ideas but you're not sharing any."

Raphael didn't offer anything more than a grumble so he dropped it. They were only minutes from the lair, anyway, and soon enough they were bursting through the entrance with pizzas in hand. Mike shoved the boxes into Raph's arms and rushed inside to the rest of their family, all right where they left them. Raphael growled back at him but took the pizzas and dropped them off in the kitchen before he, too, joined them. 

"Can I hold her?" Mike was asking, giving April the puppy eyes. Raphael stood several steps away from them and crossed his arms, watching as April tucked the blanket around the little turtle's shell and passed her over with some quick instructions on how to 'support' her. Raphael wasn't sure any of it was needed since the little squirt was almost completely packed into her shell. Just her legs were free, and they were folded close to her body. 

"You spooked her when you came in," April said, though the smile on her face told them there was no hard feelings, "we got her to eat a little."

"How'd you do that?" Mikey asked, "can I feed her?"

"She felt comfortable enough to come out of her shell," Donnie said, "dad gave her some romaine and she ate three whole leaves of it. We're going to wait and feed her a little more later. We don't know how long she's gone without so we'll have to build her up to a full meal in stages."

"You saw her face? What's she look like?"

"Like you guys," April said, "but pint-sized and with brown eyes."

Mike was on cloud nine even though the squirt was unresponsive to him. Raph shifted his attention to each of the others, first at April who was answering more of Mike's questions as they flooded out of his mouth, one right after another. She was patient and kind and everything April had always been with them. 

Donnie had been at April's shoulder when they arrived, but was now across the lair and had the basking lamp pulled down to change out the bulbs. He was quiet, focused, but his brow was furrowed and Raphael knew their dorky brother's mind was far away from what he was doing. 

Splinter was standing at Leo's side, watchful over them all. When Raph looked at him, his dad met his eyes then made the slightest of gestures toward Leo. Leo, Raph noticed, was in shut-down mode. It was weird to see. He'd only witnessed it once or twice before, when Leo couldn't simply strategize or boss his way through a tough situation. When things were completely out of his control and there was nothing he could do about it. 

Raph cleared his throat, "Yo, Leo."

Leo jolted like he'd been hit. His eyes flew up to Raph's, who jerked his chin toward the kitchen, "Better grab us a slice before Mikey eats it all."

"...Yeah." Leo nodded, carefully removing himself from the huddle. He followed Raph into the kitchen. The further they got from the squirt, the more tense his elder brother became. 

Raph flipped open one of the pizza boxes and started to shovel slices out. Leo grabbed two plates and held them out under his hand as he was turning toward him, catching them as he dumped them. Then they turned and leaned against the counter, standing side by side while they stuffed their faces. 

"What do you think?" Leo asked suddenly, "About her?"

"Don't know yet," Raph said, eyeing his brother. "You?"

"Haven't decided," Leo sighed, his voice got quiet, "everything's...different now. I don't know how to explain it, but there's no going back, is there?"

It must be hard, Raph thought bitterly, to spend your entire life trying to keep a firm hand on everything so it was always in your control, then one day have one surprise tumble into your life and it rip all of that away from you. 

"You want it to go back? It'd be easier." Raph prodded, taking another aggressive bite of his pizza. 

Leo shook his head, "No. Yes? I don't know. This...It's not just us anymore, Raph."

"Yeah." Raph knew the second April brought her in that they would have to make room for her, somewhere. He was struggling with the notion himself, of having the balance they'd had between four brothers and their father throughout their entire lives disrupted by something that was small enough to punt across the lair. It was terrifying, if he were honest with himself. New territory to walk through after being safe and sheltered in the same yard since they were little squirts themselves. 

"I don't know what to do."

"I don't either." And there was something to be said about what was happening right now, about the way Leo was talking to him just to talk. Spilling his thoughts instead of just keeping them to himself. They were all terrible at it, except for Mike, who did it so much Raph figured it was his way of trying to survive, to connect with three older brothers who all had different interests and not much time between them to keep up with him (Something the three of them had silently agreed to get better about). Even the beginning of the conversation, where he had asked Raph what he thought first, was telling of the changes Leo had gone through since the battle with Kraang, since just a few hours ago when the world as they knew it was turned on it's head. 

"How do we even care for a baby? Or a," His face took on a weird expression, "a little sister?"

"Do you feel as weird saying that as I do hearing it?" Raph took another bite. 

"It's surreal."

"Hey," Raph said gruffly, a little bewildered by the words coming out of his own mouth but knowing they were the truth, "its gonna be okay, Leo."

"I know that, I just."

"Everythings different," Raph supplied, repeating the words Leo had said before. 

"Yeah."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Hope everyones taking care of themselves and having a decent, if not great, day!
> 
> Chapter warnings: Brothers talking to each other, attachments and a break in!

"You want me to babysit," Raph stared, incredulous, at Leo, "while you three shake down the assholes that put her in a cage?"

Mikey stepped forward, hands raised in a sign of peace, "No hard feelings, brah, but you are just too swole for this type of delicate-" Leo's hand on his mouth cut him off the moment Raph started to roll his shoulders in preparation for a charge. 

Leo was grimacing, halfway expecting a fight, "He's right. April said the facility was small inside."

"Then how the hell are you going to fit in there?" Raph poked him on the shoulder hard enough to make him lean back. Leo didn't even glare at the aggressive gesture, only rubbed tiredly at his face. Right. Because he'd been up night and day either screaming inside his brain about the whole baby thing or trying and failing to meditate or sleep. 

Raph had news for him. He wasn't the only one. None of 'em had gotten a wink of sleep in the last twenty-something hours, and the reason why was the exact same thanksgiving turkey sized thing they were trying to drop on him while they went topside and busted some heads. 

"I'm not. Neither is Donnie. The only ones going inside are April and Mike. I'm back up and Donnie is tech support."

"So what you're saying is you don't need me."

"I did not say that," Leo said, narrowing his eyes at him, "I never said that, Raphael. We need you here more than we need you there, to watch her and come bail us out if we need it. If it bothers you that much I will stay behind instead, but I'm asking you because you're the best choice for it."

Raph turned his head at him, chewing through Leo's explanation and studying the expression on his brother's face. His body language. Even though Leo had been making an effort to talk to and hear them out since that entire ugly mess with Bebop and Rocksteady, it still threw Raph for a loop sometimes. 

Leo wasn't giving ironwrought orders and leaving him to follow them whether he wanted to or not. There was a choice there. There was regardless, though making it in that instance would result in a nuclear meltdown of a fight, but the way Leo willingly gave him an out and a chance to call him on his bullshit stopped Raph from pushing it. 

He thought about the situation instead. April had said that indoors, the facility was tight. Literally tight. It was one of the reasons she gave them for her not calling them first before she broke in because she honestly didn't think they could move in there. Leo saying that he and Donnie, each smaller than Raph but bigger than Mike, were staying outside for support made sense. Leaving Raph behind because he was the largest also made sense. 

Slowly, Raph nodded, "Alright. Where is the little punk, anyway-" Before he could finish Donnie was at his shoulder and lowering mini-me slowly toward him. Raph opened his arms to take her, holding her out briefly to eye her. She looked the same as she had for the past several hours, which was every last inch of her tucked into her shell. Raph didn't expect her to stretch out any time soon after their overnight and morning experiences with her. 

Donnie was passing other stuff to him so he tucked her into the crook of his arm to receive it. 

"Try to get her to eat in an hour. Greens only, small portions. Let her swim and set her down to bask after."

"Yeah, yeah." Raph huffed, "easy enough."

"Also, April bought her some shorts to try on. See if you can get her in them."

"I got this, Don."

Donnie raised his hands, "Alright. Call if you need anything."

"You call if you need anything," Raph huffed, turning away from them as Leo led the group out of the lair. He dumped the stuff Donnie had given to him nearby then made his way to the couch where Splinter was already sitting, flipping through channels to find his soap operas. Raph sank down beside his dad, baby turtle still in tow. 

"I see you have a new attachment." Splinter said, fondness in his voice. 

"Yeah, some kind of tumor. Should probably get it check out by a professional or somethin'," Raph said, slanting his pops a smirk. Splinter chuckled and they settled in. Splinter to watch, Raph to take the chance to spend time with his dad and possibly rest his eyes. The baby wasn't going anywhere. She was probably passed out already. 

Yeah, Raph thought to himself while he kicked his feet up and leaned back into the cushions. Easy. 

*-*-*-*

"It doesn't look small," Leo said when they arrived at the facility. Mikey shrugged at him while Donnie opened the electronic display that curved in colored light around his front. Leo leaned closer when he saw his younger brother pulling up blue prints of the building and what few pictures that had been taken and posted online of the public offices and lobbiy. 

"It doesn't on the outside, but it's packed with a number of labs," Donnie was explaining, "with this many? The walkways alone would have to be fairly narrow to accomodate for them all. The labs themselves are small. Almost too small."

April slipped into the huddle of mutants, squinting at the blueprints. Donnie adjusted the display without being asked too, pulling up a simple map of the layout indoors. April traced her finger in the air over it, careful not to actually touch. "This is the way I went in. The lab where she was at is at the very end."

"It's the largest one," Leo frowned.

"Key pads here and here and here," Donnie said, highlighting the door ways that needed a code to enter, "metal detection on every door. Bio-scanners on the two in our lab."

"I was able to hack through all of them using your tech," April said, "but I have no idea what it looks like now. There's guards outside of every doorway, probably more inside."

"Definitely more inside," Leo said, rolling his eyes when Mikey echoed him as he said it like he'd thought of it first. The younger laughed when he playfully pushed his face away with a hand.

"Most likely updated their security systems and took extra measures. More cameras, new codes." Donnie moved his fingers over the display, pulling up different images. 

"Ventilation system." Don said, highlighting the hollow tunnel-like systems running throughout the building. "You can enter through there. I can talk you through it, get you where you need to be.”

"Sounds good." April nodded, "Leo?"

"I'll stay uptop and keep an eye on things. If you need anything at all, just shout." Leo said. April gave them another nod, psyching herself up, before she nudged Mikey toward the gated vent on the roof. His youngest brother popped it off and helped her slip inside then followed with a quick thumbs up toward them. 

Quiet followed while Leo crouched at the edge of the roof top and watched the guards muttering to themselves at one of the doors. He tried to focus, but his mind kept slipping, thoughts constantly turning back to their home and the ones they left behind. 

Donnie stayed where he was, sitting in lotus position while he spoke into his head piece and offered guidance when needed. For a minute he was quiet, and his gaze shifted to his elder brother's rigid shoulders. His brow furrowed, unused to seeing his brother so intense, even during an operation like this. "Leo?"

The elder looked over his shoulder at him in question. Donnie muted the mic on his headgear and said, "You okay? You're staring at those guys like you're going to jump down there and eat them."

Leo tensed even more then forced out a long breath of air to ease some of the rigidness in his body. "Sorry, Don."

"What for?" He looked back at the display, flipping on the mic long enough to tell April to make a left turn and warning her of a drop in the chute. Then it was turned back off and he motioned for Leo to continue. 

"I'm just thinking."

"Must be some pretty deep reflection," Donnie said casually. 

Leo grimaced, "I just can't wrap my head around it. It still feels impossible."

"The baby?"

"Yeah." Leo paused, eyes shifting to the side for a moment in thought, then focusing on Donnie. "What do you think of her? Of the whole situation? You've done the most to help her so far but you haven't really said anything about how you feel about it."

Don felt his expression soften at the consideration. "Well I wouldn't say I've done the most. Everyone's done something to help."

"Donnie." Leo huffed in exasperation. 

"I don't really know what to think yet," Donnie said slowly, carefully. "I want to help her because its the right thing to do and she doesn't have anyone else, but at the same time it kind of...freaks me out? I don't know. It's not a situation we've had to face before. We don't have any experience or plan on how to handle it. We're flying blind here."

"Yeah, I know," Relief flooded Leo's face for a moment and Donatello knew that he had similar thoughts. 

Still, he asked, "What about you?"

"That's just it. It's not something that we have any control over, you know?" Leo said, "and like you said, we're going in blind, and that's never really ended in our favor before."

"She's not an enemy, Leo." Donnie reminded, "she's an infant, like we were, the only difference is that she has all of us where we only had Splinter."

"I know that. That's not what I meant. I mean that things are different now. Since we were born it's just been us and only us and she's just so...little. How do we raise a baby? How do we protect her? I don't know what to do with it."

"We adapt. Evolve." Donnie said simply, "same as we always have."

"You make it sound so easy."

"It's not," He assured, "but it's going to work out."

Leo took another breath, this one coming much easier than the first one. "I need to talk to Mike about it."

"I think we all know what he thinks about her. What did Raph say?"

"Not much. He doesn't know what to think of her, either." Leo trailed off, going back to watching the men below. 

Donnie went back to his display. A few minutes passed of peaceful quiet, then he said, "You're doing good, Leo."

He saw Leo look at him from the corner of his eyes in surprise. "About?" Leo raised a brow at him. 

"About talking to us. You've been really trying since Kraang Prime attacked. Just wanted you to know that we notice." Donnie turned on his mic again, "April. Right turn at next junction, there will be a vent fifteen feet in, it'll drop you past the second bio scanner in the lab."

"Alright," April's voice filtered through his gear, "we're in."

All conversation was abandoned as everyone focused on their part of the mission.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

"Raphael!"

Raph jolted to awareness with a snort, bolting upright before he realized that he had a little one in his arms. He moved to catch her in case she fell but found his hands and his arms empty. 

Confused, Raphael looked down at the couch, then the floor. No sign of the baby. Panic started to set in and he looked at his dad with wide eyes. Splinter was tense and looking about with wild motions. Raph cursed under his breath and got to his feet, "Where'd she-"

"Raphael, search the west side of the lair. I will take the east," Splinter was leaping gracefully over the couch and hurrying away. Raph followed him clumsily, tearing through the lair and yanking furniture and other odds and ends aside to look under them. His breath became rushed the longer he looked and the more he realized that he'd messed up. Bad. The one job that had been given to him, the one he'd argued with Leo over, and he'd fumbled it. 

"Hey squirt!" He hollered, moving about, "Where the shell did you go?!"

He crossed paths with his father who threw an arm out to point, "Check the pool." 

Raph started to strip out of his outer layer of gear, tripping over himself when his phone went off, the call feeding through to the radio strapped to his shoulder. He slapped at it until it came on. 

"We got what we needed and we're on our way home," Leo's voice filtered into the open air. Raph turned a horrified look to Splinter, seeing a comically similar expression on the elder's face. "You guys good? Do we need to stop for anything?"

"Uh," Raph motioned wildly at Splinter to come up with something, "Uh, yeah! Dad says to grab us some dinner! And-"

"Tea."

"Tea!" Raph echoed. 

There was a long pause on the other end, then Leo's voice, sounding too suspicious, "...Alright. Anything else?"

"Nope." 

"We'll be back soon." The line closed and Raph finished shucking his things off before he hopped into the pool. The water was heated and clean, rushing warm around his skin. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness then dove down, searching. Relief flooded his chest when he caught sight of a little turtle all stretched out and making her way across the bottom. He dove for her and the second she caught sight of him, she took off with a good kick of her legs, paddling like crazy to escape. 

Of course, there was no escape but up, and Raph was a much faster swimmer. He wrapped both hands around her shell gently, pushed off the floor of the pool, and propelled them both to the surface. Breaching it, he sucked in a breath and called out, "Found her!"

Splinter was at the pool by the time Raph was hauling them both out. He looked over the baby who had tucked all of her limbs and head back into her shell as soon as she felt herself get grabbed. Raph turned her over carefully, ever mindful not to put her on her back. He said, guilt creeping into his voice, "I didn't even feel her move." 

"Neither did I," Splinter said, reaching out to stroke his hand down her carapace in comfort, "I looked to check on you both during commercial break and she was gone."

"Wait. She gave both of us the slip?" Raph couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

"We'll have to be more vigilant from now on." Splinter said, "for now, take time to bask. No napping."

Raph stepped around him to go to the basking mats, easing himself down on his plastron. He set the squirt down, facing him and in easy range of his hands if she decided to bolt again. He stayed awake this time, both eyes locked on her. She must've known she was in trouble, because she didn't dare show so much as a toe under his gaze. 

Thirty minutes later they were both dry and she was moving for the first time since her desperate escape. Raph refocused on her as she started to stick her feet out, then her legs. Her arms were next. She stopped suddenly, and Raph glanced up in time to see his father offering him a handful of romaine. Raph took it and pressed the first leaf into stubby fingers. They flinched at the touch then spread out and closed over it. Raph let it go when she drew it closer to herself, popping her nose out first to smell it, then the rest of her head to eat. 

Raph went still at the sight of her, something heavy and strange shifting in his chest when she looked at him with too-big brown eyes and mouthed toothlessly at her salad, long legs kicked out behind her and toes spread on the mat. She used both hands to feed the greens into her mouth, pausing only when he folded his arms under his shoulders to better support himself. 

The first leaf vanished down her throat and Raph found himself sliding the other to her without being prompted. She took it the same as the other. There was nothing at all remarkable about it, nothing about a baby stuffing her face that demanded his full attention, but he couldn't pull his eyes from her even if he tried. Leo's words from last night's discussion came crashing through his brain; Everythings different now and there was no going back. Raph sank down, chin on his arms, feeling warm in a way that had nothing to do with the lamps overhead. 

She was working on the third leaf when his family came charging into the lair with no less than four big bags of take out, one grocery bag and April in tow. Raph huffed when the baby jolted, jumping almost straight up into the air, before she disappeared in her shell so fast it clunked on the mats. 

Mike was the first over, "Hey-" He erupted into laughter, bending over himself to brace his hands on his knees. Soon the rest of them were circled around the mat and staring with wide eyes while the youngest tried to get a hold of himself long enough to snap a picture on his phone. 

Raph followed their eyes and found himself snorting alongside his laughing brothers. The leaf that she'd been chewing on stuck out in a single green ruffle from the front of her shell in place of a head. They left one by one but returned with boxes of chinese fast food and stretched out on the mats around him and the baby, effectively blocking her from escaping in every direction. Raph accepted the box and fork Donnie offered him and settled into the easy quiet of his family chilling around him. April wandered over too, slipping into the space between Leo and Mikey and bringing a handful of napkins that were set in the middle near the baby. 

"We should name her," April said, tapping her chop sticks together. 

"Whatever you do, don't let Mikey do it," Raph said, ignoring the offended sound coming from the younger. 

Leo's brow furrowed, "How do you even go about naming a baby? How do you know you have the right one?"

"Sometimes it's just knowing it the second you think of one," April said, "sometimes its naming them after someone, like you four. Sometimes it takes months for a family to come up with one."

Raph eyed the squirt, noting that her toes were beginning to poke out again. He was silent while his family tossed names back and forth. A little leg popped out, stretching back slowly even while Mikey elbowed Donnie to get his attention on her. Raph's eyes moved over the rippled greens and yellows of her shell, like artwork on a living canvas. The perfectly formed toes, the feet and ankles and legs attached to them. 

"Venus." He said suddenly, thinking of one of the old art history books he still had tucked away in his room that he found one year as a kid. He remembered pouring over the chapters detailing the classical and renaissance artists, the sculptures that captured his eye and inspired the tall wooden one he'd finished as a test of skill and control to get his mask. "Venus De Milo."

Every eye turned toward him and he tensed under the scrutiny. "What?! It goes with the family theme of everyone being named according to the arts, and she's..." He went quiet when he realized that her round brown eyes were back in view. She started to chew again, hands fisted in the leaf. 

"She's perfect," Mikey said under his breath. Raph remembered belatedly that it was his first time to see her eat, to see her face at all. 

"...Yeah," Raph agreed. He lifted his eyes to Leo, surprised to see a thoughtful expression on his face. 

"Venus," Leo repeated gently, testing the syllables. 

"It's fitting," Donnie said. 

"Tough but cute," April agreed, "perfect for our little miracle."

Mike was smiling, all soft-like, when he said, "Vee."

Venus lifted her head, leaf hanging out of her mouth while she eyeballed them like they'd just insulted her. Raph cracked a grin. The last of her salad was eaten and she settled into a full stretch to soak up some rays, watching the rest of them quietly. Everyone was content to follow her example, forgetting their issues for the moment in favor of being together. 

It was the first time Raphael had basked with all of his brothers since they were snot-nosed brats, and though it was tight there under the lamps, he felt himself easing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what kind of 'tests' they needed to do to earn their masks, or if it was more of a coming of age thing. I just figured that for such a large statue and to be carved out so fast with weapons that weren't really designed for precise wood carving, it may have substituted for one. Or it could have just been Raph being creative and/or showing off? Who knows.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for left over take out and cuteness! Enjoy! <3

"She's four months old," Donnie said and Leo found himself staring blankly at the data and charts and reports filing across the monitors. "hatched out as a yellow belly slider and transferred to the facility from a farm. Started to mutate at three weeks through experimentation that took place in the same facility. Origin of mutagen unknown. Eating green vegetables, aquatic plants, turtle pellets and occasional protein items. Last weigh was twenty-three and a half pounds." 

Raphael made a face at the diet while Mike smacked his lips obnoxiously by his shoulder and said, "Delicious."

"Protein items?" Leo said, brow furrowed. 

"Bugs." Donnie clarified. Raph decided it was time to remove himself from the conversation, turning to drop little miss houdini in Mike's arms. 

"Baby duty," He said, moving past before it could be protested. It wasn't. Mike smiled wide and brought Venus close to his chest and used both arms to hold her. "Keep both eyes on her, Mikey," Raph said as an afterthought, heading off toward the kitchen. He had yet to tell them about their scare while his brothers and April were gone, and that information would stay strictly need-to-know as far as he was concerned. At least this way no one could say he didn't warn them.

Venus was fully retracted into her shell but Mikey nuzzled happily into her carapace and cooed at her. "Aw, we're gonna find so much trouble, Vee. Just you and big bubby Mikey. Raphie says baby duty, we say bonding time." He carried her off, making kissy sounds and talking nonsense the whole way. 

Donnie paused his explanation of their finds to toss Leo a look, "Does that worry you at all?"

Leo gave him an incredulous look like he was crazy to think otherwise of their youngest brother bouncing off with a young and impressionable mind. Donnie snorted and leaned back over his keyboard, squinting through the lenses of his glasses at the monitors. "Looks like she stopped eating about six days ago. Just forty one hours before April found her.”

"She went that long without food?" Leo said, frowning. 

"They ran a lot of tests to figure out why. I think the reason is because they were still trying to feed her in the water."

At Leo's questioning expression, he motioned with a hand. "Natural aquatic turtles eat in the water because it helps them swallow their food. Venus was still subject to that instinct until recently when she must have adapted through her mutation. So, when they kept tossing her food into her water it went against new instincts that told her she would swallow too much water and possibly drown if she ate them as she'd been doing before."

"That's a long time for one of us to go without food, and she's just a baby. Has it...done any damage?"

Donnie leaned back in his chair, "She's mutating more and more every day so there is a possibility that it stunted her somehow. We'll have to keep track of her growth to see. Honestly? From what we've seen so far, she still has a good appetite and she still wants to dive and bask, and she still has a lot of time to grow; all good signs. I think she'll be okay."

"What about the marks in her shell?"

"They cut slivers out of her shell and skin to run under a microscope." Donnie said. 

Leo dragged a hand down his face. "She's just a baby."

"To us," Donnie said slowly, "but to them she's the holy grail of evolutionary theories and biology. They've been taking samples since they tested the mutagen on her."

"I guess that would explain why she's always hiding in her shell." 

"Why she doesn't want her limbs touched," Don nodded. 

Leo sighed. "I wish we'd found her sooner."

"Me too."

Donatello didn't tell his brother that things could be much worse. They could have been draining her dry like Shredder tried to do to them years back. He elected not to, though. Not with how heavy Venus and her situation weighed on all of their minds. Not with her now safe in their care.

*-*-*-*

Venus was tiny and she weighed next to nothing. It was no chore at all to carry her through the lair and to the kitchen to grab them both a snack. She went from one hand to the other until, after a moment of careful deliberation, Mikey slipped her under his arm to free both hands and heated up a plate of left over chinese. He grabbed a handful of salad stuff to rinse for his sidekick, shoveled everything into one bowl and headed off toward the couch. 

By the time he sank down, Venus' bare legs were out and kicking behind him and he had his hands full juggling a squirmy turtle-tot and a full bowl of food. Balancing her plastron on one palm and the bowl on the other, he plopped down and hit his elbow on the remote with practiced precision. Mikey dropped Venus into his lap so that her shell was against his front and her eyes on the tv, then leaned over her, caging her in on both sides with his arms and holding their grub in front of her. 

"Whoops," Mikey said when the screen lit up to the gunfire of an action movie, "that's no bueno." He hit the remote again, then again until he found a channel with the moving bright colors of cartoons. "Mind numbing baby-toons? Check."

He reached blindly into his bowl until he found a leaf- yuck- and held it in her general direction until he felt the tiniest of tugs on it. He let it go after a harder, more insistent pull, grinning to himself, "Nutritious snack? Check."

While she was chowing down, Mikey slipped an arm around her waist to support her and grinned to himself when she didn't so much as flinch at the touch. "Baby duty slash bonding time? Commencing."

He stuffed a soup spoon full of teriyaki chicken into his mouth, humming at the taste, and focused on the 'toons. Mind numbing as they were, he found himself sucked into them, idly eating his chinese or scratching gently at Vee's shell. It wasn't until his spoon scraped into an empty bowl that he finally looked down and saw Venus reach carefully into the bowl, leery of the spoon, to run already sticky hands in the left over sauce. 

The same sauce that was on her face, her shoulders, her shell, her hands, her arms, her legs. For three seconds, Michelangelo felt impending doom on the horizon, like the toll of heavy bells in old thriller movies. Venus wasn't supposed to have anything but greens, and only enough to start building her up to full meals again. Donnie's orders, which, in this case, were Leo's and Splinter's and probably Raph's orders. Then there was the mess. Less of a buzzkill but he didn't even want to think of what would happen if he tried to sneak her over to the baths and clean her up. If he somehow got her there without alerting the others, he'd still have to figure out how to scrub her down without her retracting and dragging all of that stickiness into her shell. 

"Whoops," He said more quietly. Venus withdrew her hands from the bowl and brought them up to her mouth to suck on them. She craned her head back and into his plastron to look at him with wide chocolate eyes and Mikey couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He was done for. 

Mike wiggled his fingers at her, also sticky with sauce, and her eyes fixed on them. "You are officially too powerful. The cuteness. I can feel my teeth rotting right now."

Her head tucked a little at the sound of his voice, but she relaxed again and went back to wiping her hands around the rim of the bowl. Mike turned to covertly scan the lair. Donnie was still absorbed in the stuff they stole. Leo was out of sight, but the light in his room was off, which meant he was with Splinter or reading somewhere out of sight. Mikey hoped it was the former. Raph was up in his room. He couldn't see him right away but he could hear the clink of weights. All clear. 

"Alright, mini-nin," Mikey said, lowering his voice, "your first mission is a high stakes dash to the bathroom. Enemies in every direction, no do-overs and heavy casualties if we fail. We got one chance, Vee, and I've only got one question; are you ready?"

Venus had her hands in her mouth again and was staring hard at the bright orange tails of his mask. He took that as a yes, swept her up in his arms and took a rolling slide off of the back of the couch to land neatly on his feet. Venus vanished back into her shell but there was nothing he could do about it, so he checked their surroundings then took off at a stealthy ninja-worthy sprint across the room and into the sectioned off area that was designed to service a family of super sized mutants. 

They made it without drawing any attention to themselves, which was a plus. Mikey headed over to one of the bathing pools and set her down on the mats nearby while he stripped out of his shoes, sweat shirt and gear. "Time for a dip-" He turned to grab her and found himself sitting alone on the mats. "Vee?"

He spun around, panic flooding his chest. He struggled to keep his voice at a whisper to avoid starting a stampede of worried turtles. "Vee?! Vee!"

She was no where in sight. Grabbing his head, Mikey took a deep breath, "Alright, Mikey. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Use your brain. Think. Think.”

Donnie had told them earlier that Venus was at a weird in-between stage where her natural instincts were evolving into her mutant ones. He looked around the room, this time slower, "Where do turtles go when they're trying to hide? Besides their shell."

His eyes landed on the pool, already filled with heated water. Mikey got down on his plastron, took a breath and ducked his head under. Like their pool-pool, it was lit below the surface and he could clearly see a mutant, green baby ninja paddling along to the bottom. Thankfully, the tubs in the bathroom weren't nearly as deep as the one by the lamps, so it was no problem sweeping his arms into the water to catch her in gentle hands and pull her to him. 

Venus started to flail in the water, desperate to escape. He lifted her briefly out of the water, the runoff falling from her shell and kicking limbs in clear streams, and grabbed the nearby basket of scrub brushes and skin-safe soaps. He swung his legs around and slipped into the pool with her. Then he sat in lotus position and let himself sink to the bottom which left him submerged from the chest down. Mikey let her go, keeping an eye on her this time as she quickly went under. He felt her heels press into his thighs as she used him to push away from. The tub wasn't long enough for her to get out of arm's length so he let her paddle to her heart's content.

Mikey pulled out the brushes until he found a round palm brush with softer bristles and gently gathered her back against him so he could start scrubbing at her carapace. "Rub a dub dub, two turtles in a tub," He hummed, keeping one hand spread under her plastron to hold her in place while allowing her to move her arms and legs and lift her head out of the water to breathe. 

She kept struggling against him, to which he said in his best super villain voice, "It is futile, puny turtling."

When he could sneak it, Mikey brushed the bristles over the striped skin of her limbs and shoulders. Just her moving in the warm water was helping lift a lot of the mess off, though sauce was sauce and he could still feel the sticky residue when ever she tried to push his hands away. 

"Next time you want to paint yourself in something I'll get you some finger paints. Trust me, they're a lot more fun, and there's never a better time to chase our bros down for hugs," Mikey was saying several minutes later when the bathroom door opened behind them and Venus froze in his hands. 

"Michelangelo," His father said, a hint of sternness in his voice like he somehow knew that he'd gotten his new little sister dirty and lost her within the same hour. "What are you doing?"

"Bath time for the mini-nin," Mikey said, tossing a smile over his shoulder at their father. "She got a little yucky while I was giving her a snack and I figured it'd be a way to get her used to us messing with her."

It was only partially a lie, but Splinter still eyed him for several beats before he gave a nod of approval and walked further into the room, making sure to shut the door behind him. He came to stand nearby, looking upon them with soft eyes. "How is she?"

"Wild," Mikey grinned at him, "bet you were hoping she'd turn out cute and mellow. Pretty sure she's going to be just like us."

"Or much worse," Splinter said, though the warm tone of his voice told him that he was more than ready for the challenge. 

Venus went back to furiously kicking and pushing at him. Michelangelo tipped her over an inch or two and adjusted his grip so he could get her plastron. Splinter sank down to sit with them, helping him support her so he had both hands to get at the mess with. With the assistance he was able to get her sparkling clean, and less than ten minutes after he was lifting her up into the towel Splinter held open for her. Splinter started to dry her off but, predictably, her limbs slipped back into her shell and the most he could do was rub down her clean carapace then wrap her in the towel. 

He stayed in the tub and watched. It was weird, seeing the softness in their father's face when he looked at Venus. Seeing the way how he handled her just the right way and did all of the right things, perfected by years of experience with the four of them. It was different seeing it from the outside. Mike couldn't stop smiling at them when Splinter bowed his head near Venus's shell and whispered something soft and sweet to her. 

"I'm gonna take a shower," Mikey said suddenly, "so if you want to take her?"

"I will," Splinter said, lowering a hand to squeeze his shoulder, "thank you for being so diligent with her."

“Gotta look out for lil sis, right?” He was all smiles as he said the words, warm eyes on the child. 

The smile bloomed when Splinter smoothed a hand over his head lovingly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Take care of yourselves today! Enjoy!

"What do you even do with a baby?" Leo asked April in the safety of his room, holding Venus out in both hands while he examined her. 

After making the circuit through most of his family, Splinter had passed her off to Leo so he could rest for a while. His father had looked after her for more than a few hours, content with holding her through his morning shows while the brothers turned in for a nap since they'd been awake much longer than usual. 

Long enough for April to had gone home after their break in and caught up on sleep herself. She'd called him after a quick text to make sure he was awake to check on things. 

"Well I guess it depends." She said. He heard the clinking of dishes on the other line, wondered if he'd caught her while she was eating lunch. "Has she eaten yet?"

"Splinter fed her before he called me down."

"Michelangelo already gave her a bath?"

"Last night," Leo brought Venus back into the crook of his arm and paced the length of his room. 

"Is she sleeping?"

"I don't know. She's in her shell so its hard to tell."

April went quiet for a few minutes, then said, "Why don't you read with her? It's never too late to teach her to love books, right?"

Leo paused, eyes drifting to the stacks of paperbacks on his floor, some so old that they were yellowed and falling apart. The one topping the stack closest to him was one of the newer ones, a Star Trek novel April had given to him among other odds and ends for Christmas. "I haven't started on 'Through the Mirror yet'."

"See? Could start turning her into a little Trekkie, too," April said knowingly. Leo smiled. 

"Thanks, April."

"For?" 

"For everything." Leo grabbed the book and rearranged his pillows to lay on, "you've been awesome about everything."

"You're sweet, but don't sell yourself short, Leo. I know it's probably scary with all of this stuff happening, but you're doing okay."

"It's an adjustment," Leo said slowly, "sometimes I don't know if," he paused, trying to think of the right words, "well I definitely don't know what I'm doing, but I'm not...”

"Is it because she's a new sibling or because she's a baby?"

Now that the words were given to him, he understood it better. The rest came out in a rush, "She's so small. I know I've already got younger brothers but I grew up with them. I didn't have to teach them anything. We learned how to do things together. Venus is different. I'm not growing with her, I'm supposed to help her grow and I have no idea how to do that." His voice grew softer toward the end of his admission. 

"And there's more. We've already had our home destroyed once. My brothers, dad, they've all been attacked and almost died. More than once, by different enemies. With who and what we are, I expect it, but now that Vee's in the mix? It scares me. I'm not naive enough to think that I'll always be there to keep her safe."

"I think that's a normal fear for big brothers and sisters," April said patiently, "none of us goes through things like this already knowing exactly what to do. It's a learning experience. And you're right. You can't protect her from everything, but Leo, you've got to remember that you're not in this alone. Just because you're the oldest doesn't mean that you don't have three brothers who are all just as invested in her as you are. You're a family and a team, and thats what she's going to need more than anything else."

Leo thumbed through the pages of his book thoughtfully, chewing through her words of wisdom while Venus rested against his side. He knew that April was right, that more than anything, Venus' best shot at having a safe, fulfilled childhood was if they worked together as a family to care for her. He nodded to himself, "Thanks, April. That helps a lot. I should've been thinking about it that way since the start."

"You're still struggling with thinking of everyone together and not just yourself making the decisions for the group." It was said simply, not a hint of accusation or unkindness in her voice, but he still grimaced. 

"Old habits die hard," He said. 

"You're doing your best, Leo."

"It's a learning experience, right?"

"Right." There was a smile in her voice. 

They talked for a little bit longer, catching each other up on the mundane on-goings of their daily lives, then hung up the phone so April could get her day started and Leo could focus on Venus. Leo stretched out on his bed, back propped on the pillows and little sister tucked safely unto his plastron. He cracked open the paperback and started to read outloud to her. Eventually, she relaxed enough to let her hands and feet hang out of her shell. Her toes spread against his shell while her hands splayed against his shoulders. 

He stopped reading at chapter two to rest and check on her, then picked back up until they made it through three and he closed the book after checking the time and seeing it was nearing her snack time. Donnie was insistent about her eating smaller meals throughout the day instead of a few big ones. Leo wouldn't argue as long as it was to her benefit, which it was, so he gathered a content baby in his arms and slipped out of his room. 

Leo felt peace settle in his chest at the calm atmosphere of their home. It was quiet besides the hum of generators and the aeration and filters in the pool. His brothers were no where in sight and he expected and hoped that they were taking time to catch some sleep. After checking to see if she was in her shell- she was- Leo set her down gently on the counter so he had both hands to browse the fridge with. Leo put his shoulder to her, opened the door and bowed to stick his head inside. 

There was the softest scrape, then a thunk. Leo paused, straightening as he heard a trail of clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk. He looked at the counter and went rigid with panic when he saw it bare of the little baby he'd just put there. "Wha-" He spun around, eyes dropping to the floor in time to see one little foot vanish around the corner. Leo leaped into action, light on his feet as years of ninja training kicked in and he fell into hot pursuit. 

He was out of the kitchen in a breath, cutting around the corner sharply just as Venus made her way across the floor and squeezed under the couch. Leo jumped over it without touching it and squatted to intercept her on the other side. She didn't come popping out into his hands and it took him a moment to realize that he could hear her shell thunking rapidly away. 

"Did you just bait me?!" Leo said, bewildered. He went around the couch and sure enough, Venus was making tracks in the opposite direction like her life depended on it. 

He went after her, ignoring a questioning, "Hey!" from Raphael as he emerged from his room. 

"Venus!" Leo hissed under his breath when she did a surprisingly sharp U-turn and slipped through his feet. He turned, swiping down only to catch air. She ducked under the racks that held Donnie's monitors, tangling in the cords as she went and yanking them free. "Oh no," Leo whispered, eyes wide in horror as the screens flickered off. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. Venus! Get back here!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Raph was crowding him then, teeth bared and voice a furious and slightly terrified whisper, "If Don sees you dicking around with-"

Leo didn't even try to push his larger brother back, completely focused on trying to work through how to get to Venus before she unplugged their security systems and god knows what else. He went for the most obvious and probably dumbest idea, which was to try to shove his arm between the racks and the wall to blindly feel for her. 

"Cover the other end," He said. There must have been real panic in his face because Raph was doing it in an instant, slipping carefully, so carefully, between the screens and Donnie's chair to go the other end. He also tried to stick his arm through, but had less luck than Leo since his biceps were too thick to get his whole arm in. 

If he wasn't desperate, Leo's would have been too, but he shoved himself in anyway and tried to avoid pulling anymore cables. "Come on, kid," He encouraged under his breath, "you gotta give me something here."

"Did you guys drop your phone and get stuck or something or what?" A third brother said. 

Leo had to stop for a second and close his eyes and just breathe as he tried to work through the absolute mess his shift on baby duty had turned into. He was man, a seasoned ninja and a leader. Not only had he failed to stay vigilant, but he'd repeatedly failed to catch Venus when she ran. Worst of all? Everyone in the lair would know about it now if they didn't already. 

Mike trotted over, head tilted at them, curious and smirking. Raph was straining to squeeze just a little more of his arm in so he had that much more reach, "Leo lost Vee."

"I didn't-"

"Don't deny it, Fearless!"

"Hey!" Mikey held both hands up in the universal sign of peace, "its all good, bros. It happens." 

Leo looked at him with his brow furrowed in disbelief. Mikey shrugged at him and reached down to grip his shoulder and pull him back. Leo stepped away and watched as Mikey, smaller than both of them and easily able to fit his entire arm into the space, started to feel around for Venus' shell. 

"I didn't lose her," Leo said when he saw Raph squinting at him. "I could see her, I just couldn't catch her."

"You. You couldn't catch a baby."

"I couldn't either," Mikey said, "I set her down for like a second, right? Turned around and she ghosted. Just poof, like magic."

"Exactly!" Leo said, "How can something so small and uncoordinated be so fast?"

Mikey started laughing, "She's a mini-nin, bro! It's in her blood to be sneaky."

Leo looked at Raph, who had fallen oddly quiet and was looking anywhere but at them, a dead give away. Suspicion started to creep through Leo's mind, "You've lost her too, haven't you?"

Raph opened his mouth and Mikey said in his best Raphael impression, "'Don't deny it', Raphie!"

The larger rubbed nervously at his neck with his free hand, "I...Yeah, fine. I fell asleep."

Leo and Mike's head snapped around to stare at each other with wide eyes before both of them broke down into hysterics. Mikey wiped a tear from his eye, "You fell asleep?! Dude! Why are you ragging on us when you literally passed out while you were on the job?!"

"I was tired of dealing with you punks, it takes a lot out of me. So, sue me," Raph said angrily, "and I wasn't the only one. Splinter was with us and she gave both of us the slip.”

"Holy-" Mikey's face changed colors and Leo thought he was going to pass out from wheezing. He pressed harder into the racks and started to withdraw, bringing Venus with him, one leg out and tangled in cords that kicked wildly in the air. Leo leaned in to gently unwrap her, smiling softly when their youngest brother lifter her up like a trophy then brought her down to place obnoxious kisses on her shell. 

"I'm so proud of you, you little shell-raiser," Mike gushed. 

Raphael let out a quiet sigh of relief and started to pull his arm. His eyes widened, "Oh."

"Oh?" Leo repeated looking at him. 

Raph looked back at him, mortified, "I can't pull out."

Mikey started up again, hugging Venus to his chest with both arms while he rolled back unto his shell and laughed himself hoarse. Leo went to Raph's rescue and braced both hands against the racks to push them enough for the other to free himself. Raphael flexed his arm then nodded at Leo in thanks. He eyeballed the mess they'd made then, "What are we going to do about this?"

"Try to fix it and hope we don't make things worse," Leo said, "Mikey."

Mikey was spinning idly on his carapace, using his heel to kick him and Venus around in circles. Her hands had stretched back out to grip his plastron. Mikey still had both hands on her, to steady her and to make sure she didn't take off again. The younger looked up at them, "What?"

"If she pukes on you? I'm gonna be the one laughing my shell off," Raph said. 

"You think you can reach behind the computers and plug everything back up?" Leo said, "I'll help. I just can't reach back as far you can."

"No problem," Mikey stopped spinning and lifted Venus up toward Raph, "No naps this time, Raphael."

Raph grumbled something and postured but lifted their sister up gently. Mike gripped his ankle and used it to help right himself and slid back into place by the racks with his arm behind it. Leo helped the best he could, feeling out the different plugs and where they went on the other side. He was surprised when Raph didn't immediately wander off. Instead, he sank down to the floor beside them, one arm curled under Venus' tail end and the other hand splayed across her carapace to press her against his chest. 

"You think Don will notice that we messed with his little death star command center?" Michelangelo said, "you think he'll stab us in our sleep? Cook us alive?"

"If he did that he'd go after Raph first," Leo said, still somewhat thrown that they were both willingly helping or visiting with him. The four of them hanging out together wasn't unusual- there was only so many ways to pass time in the lair and with things being the way they were there was no such thing as privacy or personal space. He'd half expected them to break apart, though. They were all tired and usually this was the time that the brothers separated to recuperate in their rooms. 

"Because he's all beef?" Mikey said, cackling when Raph cuffed him on the shoulder. 

"No," Raphael said, "because you're too soft."

"Why thank you," Mikey grinned at him, "I strive to be as cuddly as possible."

Leo rolled his eyes. "There's no way he won't notice. Donnie has a sixth sense about things like this, but I don't think he'll burn the lair down as long as we do our best to fix it."

"Hey," Raph said suddenly, "you think he's lost her yet?"

All three brothers paused at the question. "I don't know," Leo said slowly, "he hasn't said anything." That wasn't saying much, because he was pretty sure that none of them would have admitted to losing Venus either if they hadn't all been trying to find her together. 

Leo cleared his throat and corrected himself, "I haven't seen or heard anything."

"Me neither," Mikey said, "but he hasn't had her a lot."

"No," Raph said. His eyes started to brighten with mischief, "he hasn't. That's not fair, is it?"

"Nope," Mikey popped the 'p', pulling his arm back out once he was satisfied with his work. 

"Are you suggesting we sabotage our brother?" Leo said. 

"Yeah? You in or out, nerd?" Raph said. 

Leo considered for a moment to which Raph grew tense, waiting for the right response. Leo sat down in lotus position across from him, "What's the plan?"

Raph's expression turned into one of triumph before he motioned for Mike to come closer. The three of them sat together in the quiet of their lair, discussing strategies in low tones, ignorant to the fact that they were being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Angry nerd sounds-


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it's late! Enjoy the boys being dorks!
> 
> Warnings: Turtle huddles, sibling sabotage and cute chubby toddler legs.

Donatello squatted within his room, at the edge of the tunnel where he could peer out across the main space of the lair. He had one hand raised to his head piece, listening to the voices of his brothers while they schemed right in front of his 'death star command center'. His brothers surprised him sometimes, like how easily they all admitted to messing up to each other this time when, for most of their lives, each of them had clammed up about mistakes. Leo and Raph especially. They surprised him by how easy they worked together when they weren't in a team head space while above ground or training, with the absolute minimal shouting involved.

Then there were the things that didn't surprise Donnie at all, like how they didn't think he'd know the second someone started messing with his systems and triggered a silent alarm on his person. Or, how they didn't think that same alarm would start feeding live audio and video to his displays. Amazing, really, that they knew what he was capable of but still underestimated him. 

He wasn't upset, though. If anything, he was amused. Fascinated. The changes that had happened in their family since April had come into their lives, since Krang Prime and their breakdown on the flight home, were new and constantly making them adapt, improve. Leonardo, who was teaching himself to take time and actually talk to everyone, converse with his brothers and team. Raphael, who was learning how to better express himself because of it instead of forcing every thing down at Leo's command. Michelangelo, who was opening himself up in other ways, speaking more to talk than to distract now that they were all listening. Donatello himself, who was observing, learning, trying to covertly step in when his brothers needed help. Not just with their electronics.

And now, with the arrival of Venus, it was like they were in a jar and the jar was turned over; everything on its head. He remembered being a child and turning over things in the sludge and silt in the sewers, searching for new growth or new discoveries under debris and hoping to find bugs or any other signs of life like the pictures in his old, retired schoolbooks. His interests had eventually shifted to technology and engineering, but right now? Observing his family from the outside while everyone was flipped, seeing the new growth underneath, he felt like that kid again. 

After a few minutes of listening, of just being, Donnie pulled his ear piece down and moved quietly back into his room before he was spotted. He left them to their plotting, confident that he could prepare for whatever they threw at him and settled back into his bed to rest while he could. His mind didn't want to sleep. He attempted meditation, though that quickly gave way to thinking about his family, then the countless projects he had to finish, and back to his brothers and sister. 

Donnie eventually closed his eyes, and opened them again two hours later to Leo gently squeezing his shoulder. Blinking up at him and Venus, who was tucked into her shell. Leo studied him carefully, "You alright, Donnie?"

He nodded, pushing himself up with a yawn. "Baby duty?"

"Baby duty."

Donnie held out his hands and Venus was placed in them with great care, like she was the most precious treasure in the world. Donnie tucked her in against his plastron, yawned one more time and stood up. "Get some sleep, Leo."

"I'll be fine. You sure you got her?"

"Mhm." For someone that couldn't even fathom sleep just a little bit earlier, Donnie had a time shaking off his drowsiness. "She'll help me check surveillance."

Leo tried to hide the panic that flashed across his face and it took Donnie everything he had to pretend like he didn't notice. Right. The plan to sabotage him. Donatello resigned himself to having three shadows for the rest of his time watching Venus and mentally braced for the next few hours between them and Venus' apparent track record for running away from everyone. Hard to believe when she rarely came out of her shell unless it was to eat. 

Leo left him to his 'morning' routine. Donnie never once set Venus down, finding different ways to hold on to her while he finished dressing and sent out a quick text to April about the possibility of getting a play pen. Then he slipped his ear piece and mic on and hopped down from his room. 

Raphael and Michelangelo were both conveniently loitering in the kitchen. Not even eating, just standing and trying to look everywhere but at him. Leo at least had busied himself with a round of basic katas to warm up with. Donnie resisted the urge to roll his eyes, reminding himself that he wasn't supposed to know about their so-called plan, even with how painfully obvious they were being. 

He went into the kitchen first, not to feed himself but to get water and some greens for Venus when it was time for her to eat again. He paused while he was standing at the fridge, tapping the fingers of one hand over the door while the other arm was curled around their sister. 

"You should eat somethin'," Raph said. 

Donnie glanced at him over the door. Some stubborn, childish part of him made him argue, probably the same stupid logic that told Raph to growl at Leo or demanded that Leo try to cow all of them down the second they stepped out of line. Well, the same stupid logic that used to do those things, anyway. Upside down jars. They were all changing, growing. 

Still, he said, "I'm not hungry." 

"When was the last time you ate in the last twenty four hours?"

"Chinese."

"What else?"

Donnie didn't say anything. He sighed and reached blindly into the fridge until he found other left overs from a few days ago. If Raph was a bird, he'd be preening with how smug he looked. Mikey was sitting on the cabinet beside the microwave, feet kicking like a toddler. He opened his hands toward Donnie, "You want me to hold her?"

"Didn't you just have her a few hours ago?" Donnie made a face at the food he'd chosen, half a box of chicken nuggets and soggy fries, "who put fries in the fridge? Gross."

"Doesn't mean I don't have time to hold my favorite sister." 

"Your only sister," Donnie clarified, stuffing the box into the microwave anyway and setting it to thirty seconds. He went to the sink next to wash the vegetables, feeling their eyes on his back as they waited for him to set her down like they had. 

Venus's legs were hanging down, so Donnie simply set her on the edge of the sink so that her toes dangled under the water, and used both hands to rinse so she was secure on both sides. "I've got this." He watched as her toes curled then spread and she stuck both feet further under the stream. His face softened at her, as two tiny hands emerged and started to push against his arms. 

"Okay." Mikey said, and the unspoken 'I tried' was clear in his tone. The microwave dinged. Donnie pulled Venus back to his hip, turned off the faucet, grabbed his box of old nuggets and made his way over to the monitoring system. The air inside the lair went tense as all three of his brothers held their breaths. Donnie could practically smell their fear as he set the food down on the shelf beneath the racks that served as a desk, then set Venus down on his lap, one hand curved around her carapace and fingers idly drawing over her scutes. 

Right away, Donnie could see things out of place. He had more than one computer running under the racks, all of which that had at least three of their own monitors. The monitors were connected to the wrong computers and though they were all turned on, a few of them had blank screens and others were reduced to lines of white data on a black page. It was such a mess that he was almost impressed by it. He calmly studied the screens until he was able to match what went to what and was grateful to find that their security measures were still in tact, at least. 

Donnie went to work, doing as much as he could without breaking his cover by just taking the entire thing down and re-plugging everything. He would have to wait until the others were sleeping or bored with following him. In the mean time, he wasted time by covertly surfing the web, texting April and holding Venus until she was ready to eat. Patiently waiting for the other three to get bored, to beat them at their own game. 

Venus could smell her greens and eventually poked her head out to look for it. Nubby, uncoordinated limbs stretched and moved, trying to pull herself out of his arm and over to the food. He stopped long enough to feed her, stuffing a nugget into his mouth when Raph cleared his throat pointedly from where he was still standing in the kitchen. 

"Ridiculous," Donnie said under his breath. 

Venus fed the leaf into her mouth with both hands, brown eyes staring blankly up at him. He imagined that she agreed with him and scratched at her shell again. Surprisingly, she didn't jump at the contact. Donnie went back to his computers.

*-*-*-*

Mikey made a sound of disappointment when Don, once again, found a way to keep Venus tucked against him while he made a few laps between the computers and the garage. Even when his hands were full of old, worn rolls of paper filled top to bottom with his hand writing and designs, even when he juggled a handful of heavier things, he still managed to never set Venus down. 

"He's good," Leo said quietly, sitting beside him on the couch and doing a better job of looking back at their brother discreetly than Mikey was. "I haven't seen him set her down since the kitchen."

"Even then he had a hold of her. Like he knows somethin' that we don't." Raph said, glaring at the tv screen. "That can't be possible though. He hasn't had her as much as we have."

"Should we run some interference? Distraction-jitsu?" Mikey suggested.

"Like?" Leo prompted, looking at the youngest brother. 

Michelangelo gave him a dramatic shrug but there was a wicked glint in his eye when he carefully leaned over to Raph, fingers wiggling in the space above the other's head. Leo sighed, dragging a hand down his face when Mikey pulled Raphael's mask off his face and rolled over the back of the couch to the floor in one deft movement. It took the other a second to figure out what had happened, sitting there bare faced and blinking at the TV while Mike got a running start. 

The couch groaned and shook when Raph hurled himself off it, snarling after Mikey like a bulldog. Fearing the worst, Leo hefted himself up to follow, "Hey!"

Donnie was in the middle of carting stuff back into the garage when Mikey led Raph right towards him. Without even looking up from his paperwork, Donnie maneuvered expertly around them like it was an every day occurrence, not once loosening his hold on baby Venus. Which was good. Leo glared at his other brothers as they did laps around them, determined to throw him off and apparently willing to put the baby at risk for it. He went after them, though he was more mindful of Donatello. 

Eventually, Donnie had three brothers doing circles around him, and he didn't so much as slow down. Leo tried to catch Mikey by his mask tails and failed as the smaller feinted suddenly to the side. He spun around Donnie, red mask still in hand, and ducked expertly under Raph's arm. 

"Are you two insane?!" Leo was saying, finally getting a hold on both of them and just barely keeping from knocking their heads together even though he wanted to do it more than anything in that moment. 

Raph swiped at Mike who just miraculously avoided the brunt of it, twisting under Leo's grip. The eldest shook them, watched as Donatello easily sidestepped around them to go about his business. He hadn't looked up or said a word during the entire mess. Once he was clear, Leo released the other two and hissed, "If this is your plan it's not going to work. What if he had dropped her?!"

"We would have caught her," Mikey said, in the middle of a shrug when Raph lunged for him. There was no escaping this time, and the younger went down in a tangle of flailing limbs and exaggerated shouts for help while Raph pulled him into a painful hold and started snorting up the most impressive loogie New York had ever seen. 

The fear in Michelangelo's eyes was real. He reached, desperate, for Leo's ankles, "BroooOOOH! Don't you dare! Leo! Leo, please!"

Rolling his eyes, Leo snatched the discarded red mask off the floor and looped it around Raph's head, distracting the other enough for their little brother to slip free. "Shape up. We've got a mission, remember?" Leo said under his breath. Raphael swatted his arm away, teeth bared as he righted his mask. Mikey made a show of fixing his own, easily mimicking the other motion for motion after years of practice.

"A mission?" A fourth voice said. Leo jerked slightly, turning around to see Donatello standing directly behind him, Venus in the crook of one arm and the other holding a few more blue prints he'd been working on by the monitors. "Should I call April to babysit, or...?"

Leo grimaced, "No, Donnie. This one," He paused, brow furrowing when he realized he had no idea how to cover his blunder without giving them all away. 

To his credit, Donnie waited patiently. Leo cleared his throat, "You looked busy. We didn't want to distract you."

"I'm at a good stopping point."

"Nah, dude," Mikey said, slipping around Raph to stand by Leo like he expected him to protect him if Raph sought out retribution. "You've been working so much we thought you could use a break, y'know? Eat, maybe take a nap. Reboot that brilliant brain for your next project."

Donnie looked between them, confusion spreading across his face. "Well, the thoughts appreciated, but that's never stopped me before. It's really not a problem-"

"Oh it so totally is-" Mikey coughed when Leo elbowed him and quickly corrected himself, "-not a problem. You know what?" He slapped Leo on the chest, "since you don't need all of us, I'mma sit this one out, too." As he said the words Raph reached for the tails of his mask and fisted a hand in them. Mikey yelped when he tried to take a step and found himself trapped. 

"Are you feeling okay?" Donnie said, looking over all three of them with a critical eye. If turtles could sweat? They'd be in trouble. They might be regardless. 

"We're just peachy," Raph slapped on the fakest smile Leo had ever seen.

Donnie was getting worried, "Uh, I'm not so-"

"Baby duty!" Mikey said suddenly, shoving his way back into the conversation. "Baby duty. That's our mission. Yep. Our turn to baby sit the mini-nin so you can take a break from working."

"Uh huh," Donnie said slowly in a tone that clearly said he thought everything they'd said to him was bullshit. "Okay, then." He held Venus out toward them. Michelangelo's eyes brightened and he reached for her first, only to have his hands slapped away when Raph grabbed her instead. 

"Don't forget her snack. She'll need to bask soon, too." Donnie said, eyes narrowed as he continued to study them. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? No fever or dizziness?"

"We're fine, Donnie." Leo gripped his shoulder and guided him around so they walked back into the garage side by side. "I promise."

Another loaded 'uh huh' was his response, but Donnie went along with his direction. He returned once it was clear Donnie was taking a break and hurried off to his other brothers. Leo joined their huddle over Venus, dropping his voice to a whisper. "He knows."

"Play it cool, Fearless. He won't know anything until we want him to know," Raph said. 

"This is harder than I thought it'd be," Mikey admitted, "it's like he's a super nanny or something."

"Or," Splinter said as he shuffled past on his cane to watch his soaps, "it could simply be that he pays more attention to what his sister is doing."

Raph made an offended sound, "Like you can talk, pops. You lost her, too."

"Details," The old rat said dismissively with a flick of his tail. 

They watched him go with various expressions of bewilderment and amusement. As one unit they returned to their tight huddle and hushed whispers. 

"We're gonna get him. He can't keep his guard up all of the time." Raph said. 

"Don't underestimate him," Leo held up a finger, voice turning firm, "remember who we're dealing with. This is the same mastermind who's been successfully sabotaging every pop tart and little debbie in the lair without any of us knowing."

"Diabolical," Mikey said, still impressed despite it. He reached out to tickle at Venus' leg when it started to hang down, causing her to flinch, "but Raphies right, isn't he, Vee? We're gonna nail him."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh! We're on time today!
> 
> Warnings: Hard headed little babies, family bonding, feels on wheels.
> 
> Enjoy!

They never got him. 

Leo was convinced that Donatello knew somehow. He had to. He was the only one of them that had yet to slip up even when they tried to distract him at every turn. How the hell did he manage it when not even Splinter or April could keep a clean track record with baby sitting Venus?

They all watched Don when it was his turn for baby duty like they were running reconnaissance on the Foot Clan, devoting hours of free time observing and waiting. Donnie never once gave any indication that he knew they were there, that they were bothering him. He was so good with multi tasking with all of his projects and Venus that it was almost second nature for the turtle to work around her as if she was a familiar attachment to his own body. 

It was impressive to say the least. Almost terrifying when they began to realize that they had truly, possibly disastrously, underestimated their usually mild mannered brother's potential to adapt in any and every situation for maximum efficiency. It was one thing to witness it on the ground, crunched for time with New York's demise rapidly approaching, when Donnie had to focus on one thing and one thing only to save their shells. It was one thing to see him idly juggling countless trains of thought with surveillance and inventions in the comfort of the lair. It was another to see Donnie doing all of these things plus wrangling a squirmy ninja baby that was hellbent on escaping every second of the day, a big task in itself that he had no prior experience with. 

Leonardo found himself shaking his head in disbelief one day when he saw Donatello holding and feeding Venus one handed while he fed through surveillance feeds throughout the city and took notes with the other hand about potential cases that he'd eventually divide out between themselves, April and Casey. Venus felt the deceptive slackness of his arm around her shell and tried to slip through. Without so much as a frustrated breath, without so much as dropping a piece of freshly-rinsed produce or raising his marker from the pad, Donnie tucked her back into his side with a practiced twist of a wrist. 

How. How did he do it?!

*-*-*-*

At first, the time spent with Venus was easily the longest hours of Leonardo's life. Even when she wasn't in his arms, when he wasn't directly watching her, tense and trying very hard not to think of how every part of their lives had drastically changed within the few minutes it had taken April to reveal the fruits of her latest investigation to them, he felt the seconds tick by one at a time. Time felt lethargic, but it went on regardless. Relentless despite his silent prayers that it would stop long enough for him to wrap his head around things. He didn't sleep. When he ate, it was without tasting anything. Just mindless chewing while his eyes stayed fixed on the baby. 

Leo wasn't good with feelings. He definitely had them. Sometimes they rode his ass harder than Raph's did his, but he struggled with them, whether it was recognizing them or fully processing them, and it was a quirk his brothers had frequently brought to his attention. To him, the world as he knew it was compartmentalized into neat, black and white boxes, all labeled and numbered. Things that challenged that system were either stubbornly ignored or they brought out said emotions. 

There was a code. There was a system. Hard, fundamental truths that stood like pillars to structure everything that he was. It always was and forever would be a family of him and his brothers. Their home was with their father. Perhaps their lives weren't necessarily ideal, but it was their lives and as long as they knew who they were and had each other, there was nothing else they needed. 

Of course, April had been the first ripple of change. It had thrown him into a similar state of adjustment, but knowing that she had existed before hand as their guardian spirit helped. In a way, she still filled that role, had made changes and sacrifices and silent oaths to support them as no one else had or could. But overall, her situation was much different than the one they found themselves in with Venus. 

Hours eventually turned into Days, until they'd had her for a week. He didn't know when Venus became a part of their routine, when a pattern was established of who would watch her and when. The very strict schedule they'd hammered out of feeding and bathing and basking that everyone had memorized as well as they knew their own name. That at least helped, having an order to things that Leo could slip into. He had her at least twice a day, sometimes more if an emergency came up and someone else couldn't, plus the time they would all come together to bask under the lamps with her or during a meal. 

He continued to read with her. It was their thing, he guessed, when they hid together in his room and he held her tucked against his chest and filled the space with stories. Usually she held completely still through each chapter, but sometimes he could feel her stretching her limbs out in rare moments where she was trying to get comfortable. Once, her small hands curved around the knocked edge of his plastron and he had to stop because his throat closed up and his eyes started to burn. Leo still couldn't figure out why he cried then, silent and determined to grind through the process he somehow knew he couldn't stop. Only Venus saw and heard him, but she didn't do anything but hold tight to him.

*-*-*-*

Sometimes Venus fought them. It was kind of pitiful, and it usually had one or two of them scoffing, but she would kick and swing at them in desperate fits. Recently though, pushing on into their second and third weeks of having her, she kept doing it and no one laughed anymore. 

"Do you think she'll ever stop running from us?" Raph asked, his voice low and hoarse, watching as Donnie wrestled Venus into his arms with gentle and skilled hands. She fought him for several seconds before giving up, going limp in his arms without a sound, "How does she not feel safe here?"

"I don't know," Leo said just as quietly. "I...I don't know what to do."

Donnie tucked her under his chin, shielding her, and she clutched at his suspenders. Then he was going back to his little death star command center, leaning back in his chair with the toddler safe in his arms again, or until she decided to run again, at least. 

They had never given up on their attempts to catch Don in the act of losing sight of Venus, which was why Raph and Leo were pretending to watch some old Stargate reruns on TV together. Not entirely believable, since Raph's interest in science fiction was limited compared to Leo, and Stargate wasn't on that narrow list, but it was the best either of them could come up with. Leo had been actually watching it up until Raph spoke up, drawing his attention back to their targets. His words echoed in Leo's ears, bounced around in his head and made their way down like solid bricks in his chest. It was hard to breathe. 

He really didn't know why, or how to help her. It...hurt him not having a solution, not being able to help her. It hurt Raph, too, Leo knew. Hurt him somewhere deep. 

She should have felt safe. They'd done nothing but spoil her, done nothing but spend every minute of their long days with her, holding her and loving on her like big brothers were supposed to do. How could she not feel at home with them? How could she not know what she meant to them?

*-*-*-*

"You're gonna stay right here and catch some rays," Raph said, setting Venus down on the mat in front of him, "and I don't wanna hear no fussing about it. It's for your own good, Vee."

She was perfectly still, quiet as always. Compliant. He knew better. This was exactly how she lured everyone into a false sense of security on a regular basis, how she slipped away and caused a full blown meltdown in a lair full of veteran ninja. Raph stretched out across from her, arms folded under his chin and both eyes open and focused on their little shell raiser. All of her legs were pulled into her shell. Her head, like always, was also tucked in. 

The first several minutes passed easily. He felt himself relax under the bulbs, felt tension ease out of his muscles. He'd never realized just how much they all neglected basking before Venus came into the picture. They'd done it rarely, usually only when they had nothing else to do and it was at the point where they needed to do it to stay in peak form. Now? Now they all took turns on a daily basis sunning to baby sit her and make sure she was getting enough rays to stay healthy, and he could tell a difference. Sometimes they even did it together, cramming as many turtles under the lamps as physically possible to take a break and just...be. 

Raph's mind wandered at the thought, going off on a new tangent on just how much time they'd started spending together outside of patrol and training. Outside of just sharing the same space. He found that he enjoyed it. It was nice to be in close quarters with his brothers like that. 

He came back to himself when he caught slow, deliberate movement in front of him, and focused back on his puny little sister with a faint smile. She was stretching herself out in that long, drawn out way she did when she was trying very hard not to draw attention to herself. Her head had popped out, big and goofy and adorable, to rest her chin on the mat while her arms spread out at an angle on either side, palms down so she was ready to scamper at a moment's notice. He studied her features, still soft and dis-proportioned with babiness with large, dark eyes that were always opened wide. She was a cute little squirt, and he'd told her as much over and over again, under his breath while she valiantly fought against him or when she was tucked under his chin and napping, just her legs hanging down. 

Her chin lifted a hair and he saw her side-eyeing him, sizing him up and probably running detailed (and accurate) calculations in her little head on how easy it'd be to lose him. Raph huffed softly back at her. His voice stayed low, soft, in hopes that it would make her chill out a little, "Told ya that you aren't going anywhere."

"Raph-" Leo was talking as he left his room, going through the last stages of dressing himself. 

Raph was watching Venus so he caught the tell-tale tension of her legs, the way her head snapped up then sank back into her shell. He pulled his arms out from under him and planted his palms on the mat to push himself up and give chase. Leo realized too late what he'd started and took three whole steps toward them before Venus got her hands and feet under her and took off, shell clunking on the mat as she went. 

Only, she wasn't going straight for the water, or to her favorite place to hide that was cluttered and hard to reach. She just plowed straight ahead, right towards Raph and into the hollow of his throat. Sensing that she was covered from danger, she dropped with one last thunk, every last inch of her hidden away in her shell. 

Raph held completely still for a minute, his eyes blown wide and slowly raising to Leo, who stood frozen with one foot in the air like a dumbass, his own eyes round and fixed on them. 

"Did she just-?" Leo had to stop, check himself, "did she just run to you?"

Raph was terrified of answering in case it scared her. He just stared back at Leo, who set his foot down slowly and sank down to all fours to crawl over into the basking space and join them. His eyes stayed fixed on tiny Venus, warm and awed. After a moment, he said, "I don't think she's coming back out any time soon. Looks like you're stuck with her."

And Leo too, Raph realized when the elder made no move to get up and go about his business. But he was okay with it. Slowly, inch by inch, Raph adjusted himself so he was more comfortable and rearranged his arms so that they formed a loose barrier around his front. He eased himself down over Venus so he wasn't straining and she was better covered even though she was supposed to be basking. 

Mike emerged next, stretching and yawning wide enough that he'd be swallowing bugs if there were any down in the lair. He caught sight of them basking and made his way over to flop down on Leo's left so close that their arms were touching. He blinked away sleep, staring across at Raph. Awareness came to him when he saw Venus tucked in Raph's shadow and looked at Leo. 

"She went to him," Leo said. Mike's smile was almost blinding. He edged a little closer then went lax to doze more. 

Donnie was already up- Raph had taken baby sitter duty over from him so he could take a break, and was moving through the lair for a moment before he too was coming over and laying down with a handful of snacks. Because Leo and Mike were taking up the open space on the other side of the mat, Donnie slid in beside Raph and cast him a small smile of triumph. "This is new," He said quietly.

Without opening his eyes, Mikey reached out and grabbed a packaged pastry to eat, "I'm supposed to be her favorite," he pouted. 

Raph felt warmth spread in his chest. From Venus, from how easy it was to be a family like this. They fell into a calm silence that was comfortable, the brothers all taking turns napping or watching as they basked together. Raph dozed with them, coming back to full awareness when he felt movement against his skin. Small hands that spread out across his shoulders, the light nuzzle of Venus' nose when she stuck her head back out. 

All four of them went perfectly still when she eventually ventured back out into the center, tucking her head only once when Mike tilted his head at her. Amazingly, she didn't run. She laid on her front with her legs kicked back and her arms out and gradually eased into taking a nap, eyes sliding closed after several minutes of examining them. 

"I love her," Michelangelo whispered, "so much."

Before anything else could be said, Leo spoke up, voice calm and so sure, "We love you."

All of them looked at him, so Raph knew it wasn't just him that felt like the floor had just dropped from under him. Leo was looking at Mikey, blue eyes almost oddly gentle. Raph's gaze shifted to Donnie, who was studying Leo with a thoughtful expression. 

Leo had told them that he loved them before. They'd all said the words throughout their lives, though they were usually doled out after a scare or a high-stakes fight that could have gone south in an instant. Like special privileges or something. A gift that Raph and Leo were the worst about sharing. Donnie was a close second. It was weird to hear it said in the lair, just shared like that in casual conversation. 

It was silent for a few seconds, then Raph laid his chin down on the mats, soft and calm in ways that were still unfamiliar to him. "Yeah," He agreed, "we love you, too."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! I'm a full time student, college just started and I have the most whacked out schedule ever. I may have to start updating on a different day, but if I do I'll make sure to let everyone know so they can be watching for it! For now I'll try to aim for mondays for "As Long As Stars are Above You" and fridays for "A Place For Us" (which also missed an update, but it's been so long that I'll just wait until this coming friday to post). 
> 
> Reminder that we're nearing the end of the story! We've got four chapters to go, possibly an epilogue, but that depends on if it branches into a series or not. I've been brainstorming and drafting, still trying to find the direction I want things to go, if anyone's interested in seeing sequels! I'll talk a little more about it in the next updates.
> 
> Thanks for your response! I love getting comments and seeing people react to my work! Makes the time I put into it worth it! I hope you enjoy this one just as much and that everyone's getting some sunshine and taking time to dote on themselves and their loved ones! Love you!
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: Noses, suspenders, cuteness and slippery toddlers.

Venus was fascinated by textures and shapes. She was learning.

It took him too long to notice it, but the moment it finally sank in that Venus was actually exploring and not just trying to survive Donatello dropped whatever task he'd been in the middle of to give her his full attention. 

It started simply as her tiny hands clutching in his suspenders. Not too unusual. Though she didn't leave her arms free as often as she did her legs, they appeared more often than her head did and she used them to move or anchor herself to something. So that's all that it registered to him as, was her holding on to him while he ran programs and studied pirated footage of above-ground security cameras for their next big bust. 

But the death grip on his suspenders shifted. One hand moved up and over his plastron then smoothed over the tails of his mask. Once, twice, then her heels were in his thighs and she was pushing herself up and he had two tiny hands tugging on his mask and it finally clicked in his head that this was something new. Wonderfully new. He stopped and very carefully tilted his head to both, look down at her and drop more fabric into her hands. 

She had her head out and was staring hard at the fabric, her brow furrowed cutely in intense concentration. She then draped it over her face and nuzzled into it. He didn't know if it was to feel the fabric or if it was an imitation, but he smiled down at her softly anyway. 

The purple tails fell from her face and he found himself looking directly into her eyes. Venus went still for a moment and he was so sure she'd hide again, but it turned out she had more surprises in store. She touched his neck, then his cheek. Her fingertips moved over his lips, then his nose. He snorted when she jammed a thumb into one of his nostrils and turned his face away from further abuse. She tried to follow, so he intercepted by placing his palm against her own. She jumped at the motion, limbs pulling in tight against her shell briefly before she relaxed again. She grabbed his fingers and pulled them closer and he allowed it, opening and closing them when she pushed or pulled them together and apart. 

She pulled his hand closer to get at the purple wrap on his forearm and he had a thought while she was busy trying to pry it free. He raised his other arm arm and gently tapped on her nose. Venus jolted, frozen stiff with surprise. Her dark eyes tracked him when he raised the same hand to tap his own nose, "Nose." 

He lowered his hand to touch hers again, then went back to his. "Nose."

She didn't show any signs of understanding, but her posture loosened again. She watched him do it several more times closely. It might have been silly, it might have been a waste of time, but Donatello knew from his research that the best thing for teaching little ones was patient repetition. 

By the tenth or eleventh time, her hand raised suddenly to slap down on her own nose as he was reaching for it. Then it was lifting and Donnie was bowing his head and her small hand was splayed across his nose, much more gently than before. Then she touched hers again, then his. The exchange continued for a time after in which he got absolutely nothing else done, but found himself not caring at all about it. Least of all when, an hour later, she was resting against his plastron and napping with her arms and legs hanging down and her chin propped under his own, slow breaths warming his skin. 

Venus was exploring. She was interacting. She was staying out of her shell more. That in itself was worth every second of it. 

It was even more worth it when he passed her over to Raph thirty minutes later and while her head still tucked at the movement, she came out of her shell fairly quickly. Donatello was in the middle of updating him and Leo both on what he'd found when Venus reached up suddenly to touch the elder's nose. 

Raph stopped mid-sentence, bewildered, and looked down in time to see her touch her own. Donatello smiled, "Nose," he offered when her eyes moved to him expectantly. 

*-*-*-*

Ten minutes into his turn with baby duty, Venus ghosted and Mikey breathed through the now familiar panic of losing a baby somewhere in their very large, very busy, very cluttered lair. He'd learned how to handle it by now- they all had, except for Donnie, who still hadn't lost her- and the first thing he did was scan the area he was standing in. 

Mikey caught the last of the ripples in the water that told him exactly where little Vee had run off to. He wasn't at all surprised, and rather than stand there and posture he stripped out of his outermost layer of clothes and gear, including his shoes, and slipped into the water after her. 

Their pool was deep and clean, perfect for a family of huge turtle ninjas that needed a place to soak once in a while. Doubly perfect for a tiny little turtle ninja that liked to pull a houdini every time someone looked away from her. 

She was easy to spot inside the water, all of her limbs out and kicking away toward the bottom. Mike followed her, easily catching up but electing to let her do her thing for now. She, predictably, sat on the bottom and tried to wait him out. Mikey dropped down beside her and chilled, feeling like he'd won a prize when she didn't immediately try to escape or tuck her head in. Instead she craned her neck to eye him like he'd offended her ancestors, which got him cracking a grin back at her. 

She walked along the bottom. Mike followed. She turned around. He mirrored her. She stopped and stared at him, then started to move all over the place. Mikey tracked her, doing his best to copy her movement for movement until he was certain that she was making it into a game. He was more than happy to play along. 

Eventually they had to surface. Mikey breached the water first, sucked in a breath of air obnoxiously loud after catching sight of his brothers trying to do stuff throughout the lair, and ducked his head under in time to catch her breaching beside him. She tread water, edging closer until one of her palms was braced against his arm to give herself something to rest against. Mikey pretended not to notice. Not even when she crawled further unto him, only raising his arm to give her a boost when he realized she was going for his shell. She spread out over his carapace, thumping and scraping softly against his shell until she was comfortable. Mikey floated in the water, completely content where he was as Venus' personal dock. He only wished there was a lamp above them so she could bask properly while she was up there.

They drifted in the pool until their turtle overlords were calling for Michelangelo to come train. "No can do!" He said back cheerfully, "I'm on mini-nin duty!"

"Mike- Mike, why are you in the pool?" Raph huffed, approaching. 

Mike shrugged back, "Taking a swim, dude, what's it look like?"

They both stopped when Venus moved and slid quickly down Mike's scutes until she plopped back into the water. Michelangelo grinned at him, "Guess thats why they call us sliders, huh?" Then he ducked back under to follow. Venus started up their little game again once he was down beside her and he gladly went with it. 

When they surfaced again, it took less time for her to come to him and climb up unto his arm. She was stretching to get back to his shell but Mike curled his hands around her tiny body and carried her out of the pool and over to the basking lamp to dry off. She gave him that same offended look when he set her down on the mats but made no move to escape. She stretched her legs back and it was the cutest thing in the world.

Raph came over, stepping as softly as he could to avoid spooking her, with both eyes on her and intense. He shuffled sideways toward the basking spot, a pair of toddler shorts held in his hands that they'd been trying to shove Venus into since April bought them. He motioned with two fingers and Mikey grinned back and shifted his weight to move. 

Venus' head snapped up and swiveled to fix Raphie with one adorably big brown eye. The muscles in her limbs tensed. All four of them went wild and she shot across the mats, shell clunking every step of the way. Raph went left. Mikey went right. Venus feinted with ninja-worthy deftness and went the other way right under Raph's hands. The brothers smacked into each other with a grunt, scrambling for a moment to separate and get turned around before she could slip into a crack somewhere beyond their reach. 

Splinter saved the day, almost materializing in the space to sweep low and capture their little escapee. Venus kicked out and huffed angrily while their father held her out, legs first, toward them. With the power of team work, Raph and Mikey managed to slip the pink shorts over her feet and up to her hips. 

Venus yowled and all business in the lair came to a screeching halt. In an instant there was a huddle of mutants around her, but she didn't make another sound. With one last huff, she pulled every last inch of herself back into her shell and wouldn't come out for anything. Not even food. 

Eventually, Mike's shift ended, and he passed her over to Leo. 

Venus ditched him in a record five minutes, leaving nothing behind but a pair of tiny pink shorts.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good day! Have some cuteness!
> 
> Warnings: The boys being adorable, Momma April, Venus being subjected to torture (or in her mind, anyway) and a rare unicorn sighting.

April stepped into the lair, pausing to roll her eyes when she saw the boys in a frenzy combing through every inch of their home. 

"Did she give you the slip?" She asked. 

Without looking away from his task, Raph said, "She was literally right there a second ago!"

"Mikey, did you check the pool?" Donnie called from where he was squeezing behind some equipment to search one of the tighter corners she liked to hide in. 

April set her bags down on the couch and stepped further into the lair to help search. Splinter emerged a few minutes later, sighing, to look as well. She took over looking in the hard to reach places since she was smallest, cracking a soft smile when she caught sight of Venus' familiar shell crammed half way under some furniture. She said, "You didn't get very far, did you? Found her."

The boys stopped and came to her in an instant. Raph eased the furniture aside and April caught the toddler when she chased after the furniture with panicked movements. April brought her to her chest and hummed quietly to her while she made her way back out into the open. She went to the couch and sank down, rolling her eyes when Mike started to rifle through the bags she'd brought. 

"She's gotten bigger," April said, smiling, "she's beautiful."

Venus was beginning to ease back out of her shell a little at a time and soon April found herself staring at a precious face. Beside them, Mikey pulled out the new outfits she'd bought for her and showed them off to his brothers. Donnie pulled another bag to himself that had toys in it, not just clothes, and started to draw them out and pass to Raph to unbox and cut the tags off. 

"I didn't find everything that you asked for so you'll have to order them online, but I picked up some other things that should work until you get them." She nodded towards the first toy made its way through the circuit and ended up in Leo's hands, who held it out to Venus and gave it a gentle shake to draw her attention to it. It was a a small square shaped blankie with a stuffed cow head that rattled in the center, with all four corners that draped down covered in different textures and bright colors for teething. 

"You said that she's really into textures right now," April's voice softened when Venus fixated on what her brother had with a heavy sort of focus. Her hands stayed curled between her plastron and April's chest for a second before she turned, almost toppling backwards, and reached out with both hands for it. Leo handed it over, the sweetest, smallest smile on his face. It widened when she paused to tap her palm against her nose then against his. 

"Nose," He said. 

"She's starting to explore," Donnie said, "well, besides running away from us every chance she gets."

"You're doing your best," April encouraged, "you've got to remember that the only interaction she had until us were lab coats and needles. you've all done so good with her. I don't think I've seen her go this long without hiding in her shell."

"She'll sit still with us and bask now," Raph said, folding his arms over the back of the couch and leaning over it to watch as Venus handled her new toy. As tiny as it was, it seemed almost too big in her hands as she fumbled with it, brow furrowed in concentration. "She likes to swim with Mike and she loves pushing Don's buttons. Literally."

"This is adorable," Mikey said, lifting a pair of tiny leggings that were blue with little clouds and unicorn cats printed all over them. They were a pair she had picked out with him in mind. She'd actually put together four little outfits that were all themed for each of her elder brothers, then one that April had picked out of her favorite clothes, with extra odds and ends that would stretch out her wardrobe a little more. 

"There's more," April nodded at the bag, "I got her some fun stuff to go with each outfit. Bonus points if you can match everything together and guess who inspired them." She watched as Mike promptly dumped out all of the bags in his lap at the challenge. 

Raph made a sound of surprise at the heap of clothes and accessories. April elbowed him gently and admitted, "I got a little carried away."

"Its easy to do that with her," Leo said, in a tone that hinted he knew from experience. 

Donnie went through her new collection of toys and set them aside on another surface to be further examined later. Venus was content with what was given to her, still so focused on exploring it that she hardly noticed anything else that was going on around her. April left her hands loosely wrapped around her shell for support and looked on with bright eyes as all four brothers crowded around the clothes and joined in on separating everything out. 

"No, no," Raph pulled a piece from an ensemble that had already been separated out and pulled it to another, "Reds with reds."

"Bet we know who that one goes to," Leo chuckled when Raph pushed at him in retaliation. 

"You think so?" April said, grinning when they looked at her in question. Their expressions changed, taking on the seriousness reserved for working through cases. She laughed when they started to second guess themselves, pulling the smaller piles apart to rearrange them and trade pieces with others. 

April turned her attention down when she felt the soft plush of the blankie brush her collar. Venus had it pulled over her head like a wig and was peering out between the corners at the boys with one of the teethers in her mouth. Her hands rested against April's shirt. Abruptly, the toddler turned her head up to look at April, using one hand to clumsily keep the fabric on her head. April went soft when Venus tapped her nose then stretched to touch April's. 

"Nose," April said. 

"Awww!" Mikey said. April didn't look away from Venus, because she was busy touching her face. Exploring. A camera clicked from the other side of the couch and April made a mental note to ask for a copy later. Venus was busy touching her lips and April took a calculated risk and took her hand to kiss her fingers and palm. Venus went stiff for a moment before it melted away and her face filled with delight. She pressed both hands insistently against April's face for kisses and she couldn't do anything but humor her, face split in a smile and chest hurting from the unexpected and sweet reaction. 

"I love you," April said against Venus' green palms, meaning every word. 

"Alright, professor," Raph said, "how'd we do?"

April looked over Venus at the neat arrangements of clothes they'd set out along the seats of the couch. She eyed them, raising Venus under one arm so she could wrap her arms around her neck. Venus pressed into her chest, stuffie between them and one corner in her mouth still. She looked up at Raph's fingers when he wiggled them at her, unwrapping one hand to touch them. 

There were four main outfits that were meticulously arranged so that they almost looked like a display, pants neatly folded under the loose tank tops or jackets with the accessories laid according to what they were- bracelets to the side, necklaces across the tops. It was adorably specific and thought out. Really, these four were ridiculous when it came to Venus. The best big dorky brothers a little girl could ask for. 

April looked over the ensembles with a critical eye. Mikey's was the unicorn cat leggings, a fun orange tank top with a sun with sunglasses and plastic toddler jewelry in pink, orange and yellow and her first pair of red, heart-shaped sunglasses. "That one's right," She nodded at it, and one would've thought it was high praise from the way he grinned back in triumph. 

Next was Raph's. Dark jeggings that were still soft and flexible enough for a baby to play in. A red top with tiny black hearts all over it, and a cute, punky vest that matched the pants. There was also a necklace with it, faux gray and black pearls and a red rose pendant. "That one, too," She said, smiling approvingly at Raph. She tried not to laugh at the way he puffed up with pride. 

Leo's included a pair of simple blue capris, a white t shirt with a picture of Princess Leia on it and a witty statement about princesses saving themselves and a jewelry set with glittery blue, purple and pink beads and bright yellow stars that included a necklace and two bracelets. His, besides the jewelry, was probably the most obvious of the sets. She nodded at him, and looked on to the last one. 

Last but not least was Donnie's and began with little gray cargo pants that were a softer, miniature version of the pairs he'd started wearing recently, a pale pink top with little purple and black bicycles patterned all over it, a cute set of tiny suspenders (she couldn't resist, especially not after seeing the way Venus was so fascinated with his), and a simple purple jewelry set with heart shaped beads.

"It was a hard choice between these," Donnie admitted, pointing at a yellow t shirt that had a cat with glasses on it. 

"You got it right," April looked over them, "so, was I as obvious as you thought?"

"Kinda, but not really," Mikey said, grinning. "you threw us on the sunglasses."

“And the pants." Leo added. 

"I can't wait to dress her. We're going to take so many pictures," Mikey busied himself with scooping Venus' haul back into the bags until they were ready to be washed. 

"Send them to me," April said, "and the one you took of us earlier. "

"Thanks April," Raph said, voice gruff but not at all scolding, "she's going to be spoiled rotten."

"She already is," Donnie said. 

Mike took the packaging off of the sunglasses and reached across the sofa to slip them unto Venus' head. She froze again, perfectly still. "Hey, movie star," He said, laughing when she started to pat at them. While she was distracted, he dropped the necklace over her head, too. April smiled when she decided enough was enough and tucked back into her shell, jewelry and glasses falling to the couch. 

“She'll pop back out in a sec,” Donnie said with confidence, small smile quirking at one corner of his mouth, “she can't resist the temptation of exploring now and it's been a while since you watched her, so she'll want to test you.”

“Test me?” April knew already, though. Besides her own experiences of trying to watch the surprisingly agile and clever infant, she'd heard hilarious stories from all four of them about how she'd mastered the art of sneaking and hiding, a true ninja in training. It had been a while since she'd watched her for them, having been carried away between her work and trying to keep up with Casey, but she was more than ready for the challenge. It was why she'd come in the first place, besides bringing new things she'd either been collecting or new requests from the boys. 

“'Don't set her down' is the abridged version,” He said. 

“You do remember that I've watched her before, right?” She raised her eyebrows at them, “this is your first night out together in a couple of weeks. You guys sure you won't need some backup?” She said it teasingly, grinning when they each made an offended noise. 

“We'll be fine,” Leo said. 

“Yeah I'd worry about yourself if I were you,” Raph crossed his arms, “Don wasn't kidding when he said to keep an eye on her.”

April smiled down at her charge when Venus ventured out from her shell again, hands groping blindly for the stuffed toy to bring back to her face. It went back over her head with some maneuvering while the boys, who were already late going out on patrol, stood around and watched with fond faces. She already had every one of them completely wrapped around her fingers. It took everything April had not to snort at the thought, at how thoroughly Venus had them whipped. 

April walked them to the exit, Venus propped on her hip and busy playing with her own nose while her family wished each other good luck and separated. 

“Alright, Vee. Time for our girl's night.” April smoothed her fingers over the scutes of Venus' shell and carried her into the kitchen to grab some healthy, turtle-approved snacks.

*-*-*-*

They were ass deep in a Purple Dragons' warehouse in the middle of recruitment matches, getting in the best beat-down they'd had in weeks, when their phones buzzed. Raph paused mid-punch, thinking, because that was definitely a message of some kind and those only came from three people or places. Dad didn't know how to text to save his life, and it wasn't an S.O.S.. Those had a different feel to them, more insistent and patterned like morse code to get their attention. This one was just a tiny little vibration he barely felt in his pocket that only went off one time, then silence. 

That left two people, but Casey was kicking ass at Raph's own shell in full Friday the Thirteenth regalia, too busy trash talking to chat with Raphael or his brothers. So, it had to be April. April, who was at home babysitting their little shell raiser. 

Raph listened to the sound of the fight around him, heard similar pauses in their strikes or swings that happened at the same time while they also went through their pitifully short list of contacts in their heads. 

Leo was the first to speak up, “I got it!” His blades sang through the air, interrupted when they connected with a body followed by the thump of said body hitting the concrete. 

Raphael gave a nod even though his brother couldn't see it and went back to grinning down like a wolf at the twerp trembling in his grip. Poor kid was already cringing before Raph had even pulled his fist back, shaking like a leaf. He leaned down right into the purple dragon's face and said, “Boo.”

The kid passed out right on the spot, and Raph dropped him with a smirk. 

“Guys,” Leo said, “guys. You have to see this”

“Is something wrong?” Donnie asked, bo spinning and landing on someone with a painful thwack that almost made Raph grimace. Stick or not, it hurt like hell getting smacked in the head or on the arms by that thing. 

Mikey's voice cut in, completely offended, “Yeah, somethings wrong! How come she put her in your outfit and not mine?!” 

Casey's annoyed, “What the hell are you talkin' about?” went unheard because Raph whipped out his phone one handed. He flipped the sai occupying the other to hit another dragon with the handle on the temple and drop him like a sack of bricks. 

Raph punched in the code to unlock the screen and tapped on the new message icon. It was from April, like he'd expected, the end of their ongoing group conversation ended with the newest text bubbles that were full of pictures. 

The first ones were of them wearing sunglasses, cheeks squished together. April was beaming but Venus just looked confused, brows raised under the heart-shaped frames and mouth slightly open and curled to one side like she was borderline disgusted with how things were going. The next picture was the same, but taken a little later with Venus trying to shove April's face away with a hand while the woman laughed her ass off. 

Raph thumbed through them quickly, all either selfies of the two of them or candid pictures of Venus through the process of forcing her into one of her new sets of clothes. By the time she was dressed in the Leia t-shirt, which managed to stretch over her shell without completely destroying the fabric, and the matching blue capris, Venus had the most dead pan expression on her face, one that could rival Don's when one of them asked him to repeat the most basic instructions more than once. 

April's hand was in the next one, straightening out the necklace and pointing out the different shapes and colors. Venus' attention shifted in the following pictures, interest lighting her brown eyes. Her hands came up to hold the beads, and the final one was of them going in her mouth despite April's best attempt to stop her. 

While he scrolled back up and went through them one more time, fondly saving each one, a bubble popped up beside Mike's name while he texted back almost furiously. An overabundance of orange and yellow hearts spilled into the chat. 

Leo's 'Looks like blue's her color :)' was quickly rebuked by Donatello's 'That's the face of a baby mad genius scorned. Watch your back, April.' 

'Nah,' Raph texted back, 'she's a little bruiser, is what she is. Put her in red, like a package of dynamite.'

'Or like a stop sign,' Leo tacked on a row of red stop sign emoji's. Raphael twisted around to cut his elder brother a narrow look. Leo looked innocently around the warehouse as if he was inspecting the decor, and not like he was begging to be put in a headlock.

Raphael opened his mouth to say as much when their phones buzzed again and Mikey started flailing in place with what could only be described as glee. Raph looked back down at his screen and found a new pictures waiting for him. April had altered Venus' ensemble, and she now had pieces of clothing from all four sets. The sunglasses were back in place on her head and she looked less bothered by them this time. The grey jeggings from Raph's replaced the blue capris, and her mini-me suspenders that were inspired by Don were pulled over her shoulders. Venus was preoccupied with them, looking down in the first picture with her hands flat across her chest. In the next one she got her hands hooked into them, and the last she looked up at April with her big brown eyes wide and adorable. 

'Kid's gonna rot my teeth out,' Raph texted back with a red heart. It was lost in the swathe of rainbow hearts Mike sent, with a few blues and purples tossed in by their brothers. 

"You boys are smiling like you're in love or something," Casey muttered, "what's so important that you stopped in the middle of an ass-kicking?"

"What's the matter, Case?" Donatello said, smirking at him, "not used to being a third wheel?"

Casey yanked up his mask to stare at them with his brows all the way up into his buzz cut, "So it is a girl?! Who?! And what, for all four of ya?!"

Leo made a face but Raph was already on it, slinging one massive arm around their idiot human's neck to put him in a headlock. Casey pushed and shoved valiantly at him, spitting curses like a hissy tom cat. Precious. 

"It's not like that," Leo corrected, "but-"

And Mikey. Michelangelo couldn't resist it, the same way Leo couldn't resist giving orders or Donnie couldn't resist poking at something new. He whirled around and cupped his hands around his mouth, "April, yo! She finally decided she wants a real man!" He made a sweeping gesture of his hands, still armed with nunchaku, at himself. 

And it didn't matter that any hint of that sort of attraction had died out over the past few years. It didn't matter that April was and always would be their big sister and best friend. Or that Casey knew this. Casey reacted the exact way Mike wanted him to, which was to struggle even harder and shout that they were all full of shit. Raph easily held him right where he wanted him, yawning big and wide to feign boredom which only riled the human more. 

Donnie rolled his eyes and Leo looked on the same way he would if Venus or someone equally as pitiful were kicking and screaming and trying their best to fight them. Mike held his head up proudly, satisfied with the fruit of his labor. 

"You're a dunce," Raph said, "April ain't got eyes for anyone but you and we ain't talking about her."

"I know that!" Casey went still. Raph could just picture the hamster running on the wheel in his head. "But you gotta be honest with me. Is there a girl? I should know about these things."

"What for?" Raphael let him go. Casey straightened out his stupid golf bag, which none of them would ever admit to being a stupidly ingenious way of carrying his unusual arsenal. 

"Because I'm your friend, dumbass," Casey snapped, looking angry and vulnerable at the same time, like he was doubting himself for whatever reason, like he hadn't earned that claim even after this last year of working side by side with the brothers, of fighting and bleeding together and patching each other up. Raphael slapped him on the back and moved to start tying up thugs, hoping to settle him. 

He wasn't the only one that noticed. Leo's expression eased a little while he, too, dragged bodies over into a pile and started wrapping them up like a Christmas present. "It's not like that," He repeated, "there is a girl but our relationship with her is a lot different than what you're implying."

Casey and their brothers joined in, the smallest of them looking confused but thoughtful. His brows drew together, brain hard at work dissecting the new information. Casey acted like an idiot sometimes, but the truth was that he was smart. His brain was just wired differently, hiding a little detective's mind under the 'swing first, ask questions later' reflex. Raphael remembered Donnie talking about it once, called it counter-protective but somehow annoyingly effective, which was...yeah. Counter-productive and annoyingly effective was Casey Jones in a nutshell.

"So I get why you don't want to spill your secrets in hostile territory," Casey began several minutes later, "but you got me guessing over here and I may end up coming to the wrong conclusions if you don't give me more to go off of."

"We will," Mike chirped, "have patience, grasshopper."

Casey grunted while he hefted over a particularly big guy. "Is she cute?"

"The cutest," Donatello answered. 

"She's perfect!" Mikey gushed, "and she's got these big, gorgeous brown eyes!"

"She tough?" Casey asked next. 

"Well she's kicked all of us in the face at least twice," Leo mused, "she's also quick and silent when she wants to be. A true ninja."

"I like this girl," Casey decided, "she sounds like she could raise some hell."

"You have no idea," Raphael said, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing Casey and I pretty much frankenstein'd characteristics from him in different versions in the body of the one from 'Out of the Shadows', which this story takes place after. In my head (and in this story) he's still trying to figure out where he's at with the guys since they haven't known each other that long. He likes them and he wants to be part of their circle, but he's got doubts hidden under all of that 'stupid' bravado. 
> 
> I've been calling him a unicorn because I didn't know if we'd even see him in this story. Surprise! I guess. I'd like to do more of him but I don't know if we'll see him again or not in this story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Probably one of my favorites of this story. I hope everyone enjoys it!! And look! We're on time today!
> 
> Chapter warnings: Artistic messes, brotherly cuteness, way too many sippy cups, papa Splinter

“Alright, Vee, the most important thing to remember-” Mike stopped when a wet hand slapped down on his nose, smearing finger paints all over his face. “Nose,” He said happily, not even irritated by the interruption. He waited for her to touch her own and made a note to take them both back to bathe after this, then continued. 

“Is that there is no bad art,” He guided her attention down to the extra large doodling pad his brothers had nabbed for him for Christmas last year, dipped his fingers into the paints and began to draw large, bright flowers across the page. “People are weird. They like to put labels on everything, but art doesn't have any. They tried to but there's always someone that's breaking the rules.”

Her wide brown eyes fixated on his fingers, fascinated by the appearance of shapes. She went very still, adorably focused on what he was doing. “Kinda like us,” Mikey added quietly, taking her hand in his and gently uncurling her fingers while she was distracted, and pressed her open palm down on a clear corner. As soon as he let go she was peeling it off, looking at both, her hand and the yellow print it'd left. He watched while she tested this new phenomenon, laying her hand down again in a different place, lifting it, then dragging her fingers across. She ran out of paint and Mikey raised a bowl and tipped it just enough toward her to get her to look at it. She stuck her fingers in it without being told and started to draw some more. 

“That's yellow,” Mikey said, “like the sun, like baby ducks, like April's favorite jacket.”

“This,” He pointed at the red petals he'd just finished drawing, “is the most extra color of the rainbow and it's called red. Like peppers, or the blood of angry men. That's why Raphie's always got a pipe up his tail.”

He almost jumped into his shell when said brother rumbled above them and leaned down to plunge two fingers into the orange paint. He also started to paint, “This is orange. It's the color of obnoxious little punks that don't know what's good for them.” 

Mikey wasn't even offended that he was painting over his master piece, too busy grinning and enjoying one of the rare moments that his brother put his least exercised skills to work. Before his eyes, the page became a field of warm sunflowers and scarlet daisies with yellow stems. Each part in orange was made with quick but measured sweeps of his hand. Raphael's thing was classical sculpture and realism while Mikey's had always been closer to a grafitti or abstract, whatever he thought looked good. Despite that, Raph's attention to detail was carried into whatever artsy thing he was doing. Sculpting, painting, drawing, knitting. 

Venus chose another color and slid her now blue palm across the bottom of the page. She paused long enough to look up at them, expectant. Mikey propped his chin unto the palm of his clean hand and said, “That's blue. It's the second most extra and overrated color of the rainbow. It's supposed to be cool and strong, like a superhero, but it's more like water and chill, which is what Leo needs to do more often.”

“How come you didn't tell her Leo's got a pipe up his tail?” Raph also changed colors, switching to red. He started to pull strips of the blue base up into purple blades of grass. “Blue and red turn into purple, and that's like combining stability and passion, like your big brother Donnie.”

“What color mask do you think Vee will get?” Mikey said. 

Venus stopped painting long enough to look up at Raph and touch his nose. Raph grunted out a 'nose', face scrunched, and waited until she finished the interaction and went back to painting before he answered, “Don't know. Ask in a few years when she grows a little more.”

They filled the page with color and Venus insisted on turning to a new one, so Raph pulled it out and set it aside to dry while she got started on the fresh canvas. 

By the end of the week, the lair was patched in their paintings, every piece signed with Venus' handprint in the corner and whoever elses fingers that had worked on it beside her mark. Mikey stood before them with his hands propped on his hips and grinned when he realized that others had Leo's and Donnie's prints in their signature colors beside Vee's. There were even a few with Splinter's much more narrow finger prints. Not as many as his or Raph's, but enough. 

It was the first time in years that Mikey had seen all of them make art together so much in such a short time. It felt like a victory to a long battle he hadn't realized that they were fighting.

*-*-*-*

“'No'ss,” A tiny, muffled voice said.

Leo paused, unsure that he'd heard anything at all. Then he looked down to the crook of his arm when he felt heels dig persistently into his plastron. Venus had her hand on her nose and was staring up at him with intense brown eyes. When she saw that she had his attention, she patted her face. Her mouth opened. “No'ss.”

“Nose?” Leo said quietly, feeling like the world had fallen out from under his feet. 

“'No'ss.” She said with finality. “'Ee.”

“...Vee?” 

“'Ee.”

Leo sat down on the floor, right where they'd been standing, and set Venus down across from him but in easy reach. She watched him with an almost disturbing kind of focus. When she reached for him, Leo bowed his head down to put his face in her reach, but rather than splay her hands across his nose, her palm went to his forehead. 

“'Ee?”

“Leo,” He tried, voice turning soft. 

“'Ee-oh.”

Emotion poured through him, raw and overwhelming. He hadn't even known Venus had been working on sounds, that she'd gotten to the point where she could understand their names and which belonged to who. Venus wasn't mute. They'd all caught an earful of her snarling or yowling when they'd done something that really upset her, but she'd never actually tried to sound out words before. Or, not that any of them knew of. 

Venus took her hand from his forehead and went to the tails of his mask instead. She wound the fabric in her fingers. Leo pointed to it, “Blue.”

“'Loo.”

Leo gathered her in his arms again and stood back up, hurrying toward the garage where he could see the flashes of light from a welding torch. Shielding Venus' eyes with one hand, he poked his head inside and shouted for Donnie, who sat up abruptly at the near panic in his voice and hit his head on the undercarriage of the Shell Raiser. 

“Ow- Leo, what-”

“She's talking.” Leo said hurriedly, “Donnie, she's talking. Listen.” He touched her nose, “Nose.”

Venus stared at him incredulously for a moment, then offered, “No'ss.”

He went to his bandanna next, “Blue.”

Another slanted look. Venus turned her nose up into the air and he worried for a second that she was about to get stubborn on him. “'Loo.”

He pointed to himself, “Leo.”

“'Ee-oh.”

He looked back at Donnie, saw him staring with eyes that were impossibly huge behind his glasses. He was pushing himself up, hurriedly wiping his hands on his pants. “She just started this?!”

“Yeah,” Leo said, “while we were in the kitchen.”

“I haven't heard her try to speak yet,” Donnie walked over, pulling his head gear off to set on his desk as he went. Venus' head swiveled to watch him approach. “I've been working with her on it every day but she's always been so quiet.”

“Me too,” Leo offered her to him. “I didn't think she was old enough to, yet.”

“Always such a surprise,” Donnie said fondly, lifting her from Leo's hands. “Someone's been holding out on us.”

“I don't know how she's been practicing- are babies supposed to know how to articulate like that this young? She just spat out three different sounds for words that she knew, all in a row.”

“Not human ones.” Donnie held her out to eye her for a moment, bringing her closer only when she reached for him. Venus wrapped her fists in his suspenders and tucked her head under his chin. “and I don't know exactly when we started to talk, but I guess it's possible. Hard to argue with the evidence when it's right in front of us.”

Leo pointed at their brother when Venus looked at him, “Don.”

Venus' brow furrowed. Under her breath she worked on sounding it out like an author or songwriter might say a line to themselves to test how it worked. Donatello's eyes lit up, all of his attention on precious Venus. Finally, her eyes set firmly on Donnie. “D'ahn.”

“Wow.” Donnie's voice was soft. He blinked a few times, face tightening with emotion. Leo could relate. 

Venus tugged on his suspenders and turned her face away from them, apparently done with talking. Leo pulled her favorite stuffie out of his belt and tucked it into her elbow. She adjusted to hold it, shoving one of the teethers attached to it into her mouth. 

“Are you ready to watch her?” He asked, though he was reluctant to give her up. Donnie smiled at him like he knew. 

“I need to clean up. It'll only take a few minutes.” Donnie unwound her fingers from himself with practiced ease and set her back into Leo's hands, “you should read to her until I'm done. If she's learning how to speak, then she's listening to everything we say.”

Leo nodded and headed off for his room, losing time between the garage and his bed. He shifted Venus to one side, grabbed their book off the dresser, then flopped back into bed. Venus huffed at the sudden movement but thankfully didn't tuck back into her shell. He read a chapter to her, reading much more slowly and placing a little more emphasis on some words. Though he hoped for it, she didn't make an attempt to sound anything else out. Still, he'd take whatever she was willing to give. 

Once the rest of their family were updated on Venus' progress, everyone doubled their efforts on trying to teach her words and meanings, sometimes to the point where she was fed up with all of it and vanished into her shell until it was time to eat or swim. 

*-*-*-*

Raphael had Venus propped up in an elbow while he flipped through a new fitness magazine when his co-pilot's shell rattled with one of the puniest, nastiest coughs he'd ever heard. Raph jumped at the sound, wide eyes swinging down to fix on her when another had her arms and legs curling in, shaking, against her plastron. 

“Whoa,” He said, setting his light reading aside, “where the hel-heck did that come from?”

She looked at him with heavy lidded eyes and wheezed. When he lifted her away from himself to get a good look at her, Venus grabbed for him with her hands. Raphael caved, brought her in close to his chest and tucked her securely under his chin. His heart hurt when her arms went up around his neck and she shivered into his skin. 

He could feel the heat in her skin where her face was nuzzled into his throat, and scrambled to to stand, “Okay, okay-” Venus whimpered. Actually whimpered. Raph moved like his feet were on fire, running, jumping or skipping over anything in his way. “Okay!”

“Donnie!” He shouted, chafing his hand over her scutes in an attempt to comfort them both, “Don!”

“Raphael!” Splinter called, appearing from the dojo with cane in hand and eyes intense upon them, “you will wake your brothers.”

Raph pivoted and rushed for him, “She's sick!” His voice was so panicked that the words ran together, “She just started coughin', bad, full bodied coughs and she's shakin' and-”

The sternness left his father's face and he beckoned him closer, ears lifting when Venus started hacking. Raph bent before him and tried to coax his sister to give up her hold on him. She refused, but their dad wasn't deterred. He reached for them and gently smoothed wrinkled fingers over her head. 

His brow furrowed, “She is feverish.” He felt the tension in her face, listened to the congested breathing. “A cold, most likely.” Splinter balanced his cane against his side so both hands were free to reach for her. Raph stooped to make it easier. 

“Come, daughter,” Splinter soothed, shushing her gently when she huffed. She held tight to Raph for a minute before releasing him when it was clear that she wouldn't be left alone. She curled into dad's robes and he balanced her in one arm and returned the other to his cane. Nodding toward the kitchen, Splinter said, “Make her a cup of water and see if we have any saline.”

Raph still felt panicked. He must have looked it, because Splinter chuckled at him, “Do not worry, my son. I am something of a master when it comes to helping stubborn children weather colds.”

He imagined that his father was telling the truth, so he allowed himself to take a breath and scurried off to the kitchen to do as he was told. Raph looked over his shoulder continuously, tracking their amble through the lair. Splinter was taking her to the couch where he could sit with her and watch his soaps. 

A cup of water was easy enough after he'd scratched his head over their growing collection of sippy cups and little dishes. There was a mess of them and he really wasn't sure when it got out of control. April had done her part and provided them whatever she could find that they needed in person so they got it as soon as possible, but the rest? It had to come from somewhere. 

He himself had ordered a few special items, like the red set with primary colored dinosaurs on them and another with monster trucks, because she was tough and she needed tough looking stuff. But there was a suspiciously dorky selection of blue stylized Star Wars and space themed cups and bowls. A lot of stuff with sunshine and rainbows and cats. While going through the cups in his search for one that still had a matching lid attached, he found several modest purple pieces that had a range of patterns, colored prints and textured grips. 

It was ridiculous. Why did one little punk need all of this anyway? Still, in some weird, backwards way, it was almost soothing to see how much Venus had, was still getting, when she'd started with nothing. When they'd had to dig through trash and sludge for every little thing at her age.

Luck was on his side for a change, because he found a fire-engine red cup with a giant yellow t-rex on it. She'd need that extra boost of attitude to beat her cold back, so he gave it an unnecessary quick rinse and filled it with water that wasn't too warm or too cold. 

Their medicine cabinet was always well stocked since April came back into their lives and gave them an actual address to send stuff to. She provided too, of course. April always breezed through their supplies before she left, mostly without anyone even noticing, and came back later bearing gifts. 

He huffed out a sigh of relief when he saw a row of unopened stuff right at the front, including a pastel colored box labeled “Saline Drops” with a little bean shaped baby under it. Looked different from their baby and that kind of stung somewhere under his shell, but there was nothing any of them could do about it. She'd have to grow up in the same world they did, living under N.Y.C.'s bed like a monster.

He shook the ugly thoughts out of his head and refocused. Venus helped by coughing again, snapping him back to attention. Right. Sick shell-raiser now, brooding later. He hustled over to the couch with a tiny sippy cup in one hand and an even tinier bottle of saline in the other and hovered near by while Splinter arranged Venus to rest against his chest under a blanket so both of his hands were free. 

Venus didn't try to slide down and book it, which had Raph almost on his toes in worry. She had to be feeling miserable if she wasn't jumping on the chance to put the whole lair in an uproar. 

Splinter gestured at the saline, “Two drops in each nostril. I'll hold her head still.”

Raph balanced the sippy cup in the hollow above his shoulder and under his shell so both hands were free and masterfully opened the delicate cardstock box. He tilted it over into his palm and caught the bottle and dropper. The real challenge was carefully unscrewing the lid without dropping anything or squeezing too hard by accident. 

Venus breathed noisily into Splinter's robe until Raphael was ready, then their father coaxed her face up and Raph very, very carefully squeezed the dropper over her nose. She wheezed and struggled, but as small and weak as she was, it was even more pitiful than usual. In between drops she stared at Raph like he'd betrayed her and he wondered when exactly he'd gotten so soft that a sick baby's bitter glare was enough to make him question every decision he'd made in his life up until this point. 

“I'm sorry,” He said before he realized it, wiping the tears and runny mucus from her face with a thumb, “I'm not sorry that you're gettin' what you deserve- and I mean that in a good way,” Because he did. She was surrounded by family and they were prepared for anything and everything even if he wasn't, “but I'm sorry ya feel so miserable.”

“Ra'ff,” She squeaked out, her usually quiet voice hoarse. His heart hurt between an overwhelming guilt that didn't even make sense and the giddiness that still lit up his nerves when she said his name. 

The bottle went back into the box with the same care he'd taken while pouring it out. He nudged the paper flap back into place over it to close everything in and shoulder-rolled the sippy cup into his hand so quickly and perfectly that not even a drop spilled from the tip. Her tired brown eyes followed the motion of the bright red cup with interest. She reached out for it with both hands, jolting when another cough rattled through her. 

“Oh, kid,” Raph whispered, passing the cup over to her with the intention to walk away only to have her grab onto the wraps on his knuckles and anchor him in place. He stood there awkwardly, unsure of whether to sit down or put the saline back. How often would she need it, anyway? If she was all stopped up, she'd need more than a few drops, wouldn't she?

Splinter's old hand smoothed over his knuckles, fingers passing carefully over Venus's, “Sit, my son. This may be her very first time feeling ill and she is scared. Stay here and support her however you can.”

Dad had a magic way about words, sometimes. Most of the tension that had drawn his body so tight eased out at the permission, the request, to stay. It wasn't just Venus who was freaked out. Raphael had grown accustomed to seeing their little spitfire awake and alert now that she was finally settling in, and the thought of anything that could do her harm was enough to fire up all of his strongest instincts. To stand in the way and bulldoze anything that was in her path. To protect. 

So he sank down unto the couch beside them, allowing Venus to draw his fist into the shivering curl of her body. Or, as much as her body could curl. His hand vanished under the blankets with her to rest against her plastron. When she let go to support her sippy cup with both hands, he didn't dare pull away. Instead, he ran his knuckle up and down her scutes. 

“She'll be okay?” He asked, which was stupid. Of course she would. It was just a cold. He watched as Venus fell asleep, drooping into dad's arms and resting more against them both like she didn't have the energy to so much as lift her head. It scared him. Maybe it shouldn't, but it did, and he wasn't going to play it off like it didn't because this was Venus and Venus was everything to him. To them.

“It will take more than this to pull her away from us,” Splinter said. He raised his arm to loop around Raphael's shoulder and guide him down against himself like he was still as puny as his sister was. 

She would be okay, Raph told himself. She was tough and she wanted to be here, wanted them, and she'd fight as hard to stay with them as they would to keep her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably obvious to anyone that's raised children or is around them on a daily basis, but I have no idea how babies learn to talk besides just consistently sounding things out and working from there. I remember reading somewhere that they pick up more 'tongue' sounds than they do 'lip' sounds at first because the tongue is easier for them to control. I have no idea. 
> 
> We'll just say that she learns and adapts differently (and faster) than human babies. And she's always paying attention, even when no one thinks she is.
> 
> Also, I guess it should be noted that the experience I have with children is limited to my abundance of smol nieces and nephews, and it's always heartbreaking and scary seeing the youngest ones not feeling like themselves/sick. The littlest one I always kind of end up holding and watching cartoons with, if I can, if she's feeling down, so I can relate to Raph's panic here.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!
> 
> Warnings: Man-With-A-Plan Mikey and artistic bros.

“Yo Donnie!” 

Donatello narrowly avoided hitting his head, though he still rubbed at the skin there in sympathy of the other times he'd done it recently when one of his brothers came running unannounced into his work space. Shoving himself out from under the Shell Raiser, Donnie sat up and braced his arms, black with grease up to the elbows, and stared with raised brows at Michelangelo where the younger stood proudly in the doorway of the garage. 

“What do you think?” Mikey said as he motioned dramatically at himself with one arm. 

He was dressed in his usual wear, arms free of Venus -which was odd at first, it was his turn for baby duty- and fists propped on his hips while he grinned broadly. It took longer than it should have for Donnie to see what he was supposed to be looking at, but when he did, he had to hand it to Mike for his stroke of brilliance. 

Mike had Venus, and she was quite secure, only she was tucked into a back pack that was strapped on backwards, against his chest, with holes cut out at the bottom for her little legs to hang out of. A turtle sized baby carrier. 

“Mike, that's...genuis.” It was. What got Donnie was how none of them had thought of it to begin with, especially after the first time Venus gave them the slip. 

“Right?!” The younger bounced on his toes and swung his arms around to emphasize his range of motion and freedom. Venus' tiny hands emerged out of the holes cut into the sides to grip the canvas tightly for stability. 

Mikey raised one finger in a 'just wait' gesture then turned sideways and popped his hip out and put his hand on it suggestively, “Does this baby make my shell look big?”

“No, but those shorts do,” Donnie said, smirking at the offended noise Mike made. 

His brother was smiling back when he trotted further into the garage, “What'cha working on, Dee?”

“I wasn't.” Donnie said, yawning. 

“You were sleeping under the truck!?” 

“I was just resting my eyes.”

“Under the truck?”

“Yes, under the truck.”

There was a long pause, then Mikey said, voice quieter, “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah,” Donnie said, only kind of lying, “it was just a nap before Leo calls us to the dojo.”

He huffed when Mike grabbed his face and forced him to look at him. A second later and the irritation drained from him when Venus reached out to put her hands over Mike's much bigger ones in imitation, her big brown eyes peeking out from the bag to stare at him with the same level of intensity as their brother's. 

“Have you been eating?”

“Yeah?”

“Was that an answer or a question?”

“That was definitely an answer.”

Mikey squinted at him, “Alright. I'm pulling the special little bro card. We haven't hung out in a while and I'm hungry.”

“I've got work-”

“All work and no play makes Donnie a dull boy.” Mikey took hold of his arm and started to pull him up as he stood, the other going instinctively to support Venus even though she looked pretty secure in her new carrier. “Come on. Let's bake a cake or something.”

“A cake?” It sounded ridiculous, “Mikey, none of us have baked anything in years.”

“Then it's time to return to our roots,” He said, wiggling his fingers through the air for emphasis. 

Donnie shook his head but found himself following without further prompting, later accepting Venus and the carrier after thoroughly scrubbing his arms and hands. Surprisingly, they had a few boxed cake mixes in the kitchen, most likely from April's grocery runs. They settled on a strawberry one after letting Venus pick a mix out. It was a bit of a task, but working together they were able to handle their mission with minimal complications.

And if they arrived at the dojo at the usual time, each still licking cake batter from their hands and Venus only partially covered in powder, no one said anything about it.

*-*-*-*

“I haven't seen you do that in a while,” Was the first thing out of Leo's mouth when he pulled himself up into Raph's room. 

Raphael didn't speak at first, too focused on carefully carving out a roughly flower-like shape out of a block of abandoned wood he'd found last patrol. He sat on his bed with his legs crossed under him, with Venus in his lap and wrapped head to toe in one of the scarlet blankets he'd knitted years ago. She seemed content to watch, quiet with both eyes on his hands and watching the flash of the knife while he carved. 

Slowly, he said, “I haven't even thought about it for years. Not until Mike got her started on painting.”

He looked up briefly. There was a soft fondness in Leo's face. Raph cleared his throat, “What are you doing here, fearless? Is it Mikey's turn for baby duty?”

He shook his head and stepped further into his room to sit down patiently on the floor nearby, watching. “No. I just wanted to see what you were up to.”

“Don't worry, I'm not corrupting her.”

“I'm glad we're raising her to have an interest in the arts.” Leo said, ignoring the almost spiteful comment. Raph paused. 

“Yeah?” He prompted.

“It's important,” Leo said, “and she already seems to be passionate about it.”

Raph put the knife between his teeth and out of Venus' reach. He reached for a patch of sandpaper and worked on smoothing down some of the rougher edges. Once the knife was back in his hand and he began to work on separating the petals more and adding subtle folds to them, Leo realized it was a lotus flower. 

“She's got an eye for colors and shapes,” Raph said proudly. “Don says it's good for her cognitively,” His brow furrowed briefly on the word and the way it felt weird in his mouth, “and it'll be good for her to have other things to do besides training and taking up space.”

Leo made a sound of agreement and quiet filled the space. It was peaceful, and Raph found himself relaxing more as the minutes ticked by. He changed to sandpaper again and afterwards offered it to Venus for her inspection. “How's it look?”

Venus took the wooden lotus reverently between both hands. She weighed it, turned it over, pressed her fingers into the hollow areas and felt all of the smoothed edges. It passed her inspection, but rather than give it back to Raph, she leaned over his arms to hold it out to the eldest. Leo's face went all soft again and he took it almost gently from her fingers to examine it himself. 

“I wish you'd carve more often,” Leo said after a few minutes. 

Raph coughed, “Yeah, well, not like there's enough supplies or time to do it.”

“You could do it while you have her,” Leo said, looking at him, “she sat still and watched you the whole time.”

“She'll get bored of it eventually.”

He raised a brow at Raph, “You think so? I think you're just deflecting attention on your craft and using her as an excuse not to do it.”

His craft, Leo had said, like it was Raph's livelihood. It made him feel like he wanted to bolt, which was stupid. When they were kids, Raph had worked hard on studying out of his art history books, practicing realism and carving or drawing on anything he could away with doing it on. Splinter had encouraged it, just like he encouraged music and painting with Mike, reading and theater with Leo, the sciences with Donnie. As they'd all gotten older though, they'd all kind of whittled away at their interests. 

He couldn't remember when it had happened, but somewhere between now and then Mikey had stopped painting or really even drawing. He did it every once and a while, and had been the one responsible for throwing up tags during the first few weeks that they had tentatively explored the surface for the first time, but most of his attention went to keeping up with the rest of them. Leo stopped reading so much fantasy and devoted his time to histories and instructional or other specialized literature that would help them in the field. Raph distinctly remembered that Donnie was really interested in the way the world worked when they were three feet tall, and everything that had evolved in just the right way to survive and serve a purpose. Over time he'd changed direction to technology and engineering. He seemed to enjoy it, but Raph couldn't help but wonder if he did it because he liked it more than than the other or because it was the most useful to them as a family. 

And Raph. He stopped sculpting because that time was better served training, as a team or by himself, to be as strong as they needed him to be. He stopped thinking about it at all when he realized that in human culture, angry, big warriors was an accepted stereotype that weren't supposed to have such 'delicate' hobbies. The knitting only lasted because it was part of his punishment in the Hashi. After years of practice, he'd gotten pretty good at it, too, but thought of it even less than the other. 

“I don't know, Leo.” Raph sighed, “it's never been useful-”

“Does it need to be?”

“And what about you?” Raph snapped, “when was the last time you read philosophies or waxed poetic in the moonlight?”

“Yesterday,” Leo said, passing the wooden lotus back to Venus when she held her hand out expectantly. “Well, kind of. We ran out of stuff to read so I dug out some of my old short stories.”

“You...” Raph stared at his older brother. “you actually wrote some of that stuff? But I've never seen you write anything but kanjis or notes.”

Leo's face closed off for a minute and it was almost like he had to forcibly open himself back up. When he glanced at Raph, he saw uncertainty, which was bewildering. His brother looked like he wanted to fold down into himself and disappear. “I used to. I stopped doing it when we turned thirteen because it was too hard to hide from everyone.”

Too hard to hide. Like he was ashamed of it. It bothered Raphael somewhere deep that Leo, that any of his brothers, would feel that way for any reason among their family. But they all had in some form or another, hadn't they? “Why?”

“I don't really know. I guess I was just scared what everyone would say if they ever found out.”

“I can't believe you, sitting over there while you passively aggressively lecture me on my issues when you've done the same exact thing. You dumbass.”

The both froze when Venus, who had been perfectly quiet this entire time, parroted, “Uhm. Ahss.”

Leo's face went pale. Raph was sure his turned the same shade when they both slowly looked away from her at each other. 

“Don's going to kill us,” Leo whispered with real fear, “and dad will let him.”

“I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't hear anything.” Raph said quickly. 

“Ahss?”

“We're so dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points if some of the literature Leo wrote was fanfiction.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Last official chapter!
> 
> I've (and a few readers) have expressed wanting to continue the story with a sequel and I can now proudly say that we have a real sequel underway that'll cover new stages of Venus's life with her family and friends! As of today it's roughly half way done and will be a little longer than this one (but for good reason. I won't spoil it for you), so if you were one of those who was looking forward to seeing her grow, I'm gonna set you up!
> 
> I don't have a date hammered out yet when I'll start posting, but when I get to that point I'll post an epilogue on this story with a note to let you know when it'll be up and a peek at what you'll get! In other words, if you haven't already, slap that bookmark button so you don't miss it!
> 
> Big thank you to everyone who read "As Long As Stars Are Above You"! I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing you in the future! 
> 
> Warnings include: A unicorn sighting, boo-boo's, all the cuddles.

“You spawned,” was the first words out of Casey Jones' stupid mouth when he followed April into the lair and set eyes on Venus for the first time. 

Venus was sitting on Raph's shoulder with one of his hands across her legs to keep her stable. Venus herself was busy playing with his mask or tucking her fingers into the chips and scars on his shell. 

“Ha ha,” Leo said in the most unimpressed voice he could manage, “We'll be gone until three, four at the latest. Routine patrol and training.” 

“How's Splinter doing?” April said, opening her arms invitingly to Venus. The baby turned her head toward her when she caught sight of the movement. She went still for a while, clearly debating on whether she wanted to stay with her brother and drool more on his mask or go to April and play with her hair. In the end, April's hair won out, and she leaned down willingly into the woman's hold. 

“Oomph,” April said, “you're growing.”

“She's gained twelve pounds since the last time you watched her,” Donnie supplied helpfully. 

Raph adjusted his mask but didn't seem at all put out by the damage Venus had done to it, “Dad's fever went down. Leo's been on his tail about drinking and taking meds.”

“How's that been going? Like taking care of two infants?” April was smiling. She nuzzled into Venus' cheek when the little one went straight for her hair. 

“Yes,” Leo huffed. Mikey laughed between stuffing his face with food. 

Casey, meanwhile, was staring at Venus like he was trying to suss out a potential suspect. Raphael squared his shoulders, “What are you looking at, chicken boy?”

Casey slanted him a fiery look but refocused on Venus. “She kind of looks like a giant hockey puck. With legs.”

Quiet fell over the lair as everyone chewed through the odd comparison. A few seconds passed before Leo said, trying for humor, “Well whatever you do, don't set her on the floor to score a goal.”

Mikey wiped his hands off on his shorts and sauntered over with the Michelangelo patented baby carrier and held it out to Casey like it was a holy vessel, “You will need this to complete your journey.”

“My what?” Casey took it slowly, eyeing it. Mikey slapped him on the shoulder and stepped past to toss his plate in the sink. Donnie took a moment to update April on Venus' ever evolving feeding routine, listing out the kinds of food she could have, how much and when. 

“She's already swam and basked for the night,” Leo added, “so all you need to do is keep her occupied when she's awake and keep an eye on her when she's asleep.”

“Sounds simple enough.” Casey said with a shrug, “she's just a baby turtle, right? How hard can it be?”

“That's a good way to approach it, Casey,” Raph said, slinging an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in against his side. Casey grunted in protest but didn't struggle. Still, he looked at Raphael with growing anxiety when the taller said, “it'll be a breeze, trust me.”

April, who had already been through enough baby sitting jobs to be a pro, rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “We've got this. Get out of here. You boys have work to do.”

“As our queen commands,” Mikey said, bowing his head to her. Leo pushed him toward the exit with fond exasperation. 

“We'll be back in a few hours. Help yourselves to the kitchen!” The eldest said. The four of them left. 

“You're so big now,” April said, voice going soft when Venus touched her face, “Nose?”

“Noh'ss,” Venus said confidently. “Ee.”

“Vee?”

“'Ee.” Venus wrapped her legs around April's waist as much as she was able to and leaned fully against her chest, “Ahp'.”

“April,” April said helpfully, feeling warmth in her heart, “You're doing such a good job with talking.”

Casey stared at them, bewildered, “How old is she? I thought you said she was under a year. She's actually speaking?”

“She's eight months,” April said, nodding toward the couch. Casey walked with her and took over the remote once they were both seated. 

“eight months?” He repeated, staring at her when she finally turned her head to acknowledge him. “I can't tell if that makes sense or if it doesn't. Is she too big, too small? Too smart? Don't take this the wrong way, she's cute but I can't tell what I'm looking at.”

“You're looking at a baby, for one,” April said, tracing her fingers over Venus' scutes, “Donnie seems to think that mentally she's developing as he's expected her to, but she's growing slower than what he thinks she should.”

“Slower?” Casey eyeballed the little turtle, who was small compared to her brothers but completely filled April's lap and arms. 

“He said it's probably because of being stunted from being in the lab. She'll catch up, it's just taking her a while.” April raised her eyes to Casey and caught the way he was staring at Venus. Venus, who was looking at the old hockey jersey under his jacket and the loud contrast between the colors. Venus, who was curious and wanted to explore any new thing she could get her hands on. And here Casey was, a stranger she hadn't met yet, dressed in clothes she hadn't seen. 

April could tell Venus was thinking very hard about what to do. She smiled at Casey and said, “Hold your hand out to her.”

“Like a dog?” He snorted but did as he was told. There were fingerless gloves on his hands. He'd kept them on after a workout and a shower at the gym to help ward off some of the cold. 

“No,” April said, “like a handshake, dork.”

“I know you are, but what am I,” He said automatically, going quiet when Venus hesitated and reached for him very slowly with one hand. Casey held still and let her explore all of his fingers, trace the outline of his glove and then pull the velcro loose around his wrist. 

“Hey,” Casey said softly, “I'm Casey Jones. What's your name?”

“Ee.” Venus said simply. She strained to get closer to him, apparently deciding in her mind that he was safe. 

Casey's eyes flickered to April's, “Vee?” He opened his arms more and Venus crawled toward him. April let her go, only a little heartbroken that Venus was choosing Casey over her. 

“Venus,” She said to clarify, “her name is Venus.”

“Venus.” Casey repeated, tilting his head down into her hands when she reached for it. Her green fingers smoothed over the stubble of his jaw and up into his close-cropped hair. “You're a bit of a handful, aren't you?”

“What gives you that idea?” 

“Well, she's fearless for one, like another woman I know,” He slanted her a smirk, “and the way Raph was a little too quick to reassure me about how 'easy' she'd be to babysit.”

“She has a bit of a history of giving everyone a hard time,” April shrugged, swiping the remote from him to turn on the tv. “She's gotten better since she's settled into the family. Just in case, don't set her down or take your eyes off her.”

“Just in case?”

“Just in case.” April put it on a family-friendly sitcom. She toed her shoes off and pulled her legs under her body. She looked over a few minutes later to find Venus resting against Casey's chest, arms and legs lax around him. Casey himself had one arm wrapped around her shell and the other rubbing circles across her scutes. Venus' eyes were heavy and unfocused, her breathing even. A far cry from the terrified infant that April had wrapped up in her jacket and carried into the lair months ago. 

“A man of the law and good with baby mutants,” April said. 

“Get you a man who can do both,” Casey chuckled to himself. His voice went quiet again, almost gentle, “I didn't know what to expect when you told me about her, but it wasn't this.”

“What'd you think you were going to see, tentacles?”

“She's sweet.” He said. “she's going to be tough, too.”

“Because she's being raised in a frat house in the sewers?”

Another snort, “She doesn't need them to be tough. You can just tell sometimes, you know? Some are just born to be strong. Some make themselves strong. I don't know what she is yet, but she's got the backbone for it.”

“I like it when you get poetic.”

Casey waggled his eyebrows at her, “Shh, not in front of the kid.”

April laughed. 

Casey fell asleep not long after, exhausted from work then his trip to the gym. April didn't realize it until she felt the couch move beside her. She looked down in time to see Venus slipping to the floor. 

“Venus?” She said quietly. 

Venus froze, then turned her head slowly to look at her. 

“Where are you going?”

“See Da.” 

April couldn't tell if she really was going to see Splinter, or if she was lying through her teeth and hoping she'd buy it. She didn't know why she did, but April nodded at her and helped her down to the floor. She watched Venus carefully as she got her hands and feet under her and started to half crawl, half walk, across the lair. She expertly navigated around, bypassing the pool and any of her usual hiding places. She, surprisingly, went straight for the dojo area and the screened room beyond. April waited until she'd pushed the cracked door open and slipped inside before she relaxed and shifted to curl up beside Casey. 

*-*-*-*

“Breathe,” Leo's voice was low and deep, commanding. It wasn't the same voice he used for calling out orders in bad tangles or, way before, to shout them down in an argument. Not demanding authority and not owning it. Not a leader's voice. 

This was Leo's big brother voice, and it was magic, and Michelangelo didn't even think of arguing or questioning. He didn't really think at all, he just obeyed on some deep, instinctive level that was honed through years and years of being the youngest in the family, of being looked after and guided whenever the world just kind of went upside down around him. 

Leo's hand was smoothing over his head comfortingly, while Donnie was leaning in close and checking him over. Raphie was also there, standing like a sentinel just over Leo's shoulder and dividing his attention between looking out for danger and watching them with practiced ease. 

“How's he look, Don?” Raph said, voice a little strained the way it only got when one of them was in trouble, or had been hurt, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Michelangelo flashed him a pained smile. He was okay. He hurt like hell, but they'd seen worse, hadn't they? He'd survive. 

“That was a hell of a landing,” Donnie said. Mike tilted his head to look up at him, found Donnie folded up neatly to shine the light from his headset over his screaming ribs. “He's definitely broken a few ribs. Shoulders dislocated and his shell is cracked, but he'll be okay.”

“I don't know what happened,” Mikey almost laughed, the sound bubbling out of him until- ouch- he remembered that his bones were a little unhappy, “I thought I had it.” 

'It' being his grip on a fire escape a little more loose and a little more slippery than anyone had expected it to be. So stupid. So, so stupid. He waited to hear it, the I'm-scared-so-I'm-going-to-be-pissed-off voices of his two eldest brothers. When nothing came, he somehow felt worse, the way you were supposed to be when your dad shook his head at you and said, 'I'm not mad, just disappointed.'

“I'm sorry,” He said. Mikey must have hit his head, because he couldn't decide whether to laugh more at how dumb it all was or cry for some stupid reason. A good cry was a good thing, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why the ugly stuff wanted to come out of him now of all times. 

“What the hell are you sorry for?” Raphael said, shifting to face them more. Michelangelo looked at him from the corner of his eyes, looked for clenched fists. They weren't. Weird. 

“For messing up?” Mikey said, turning his head more to stare at him. “If-”

“Hey,” Leo cuffed him gently on the back of the head, “All three of us landed on that fire escape ahead of you and not one of us noticed it was loose. You were just following our lead. That's not your fault. It's not your fault you got injured.”

Yep. He was going to cry, right here. When it made no sense to. He took a sharp, short breath, trying to stop it, and noticed all three of his brothers huddle in over him at the sound with their hands raised awkwardly like he was going to fall over. The almost-sob turned into a wheezing laugh that made him see stars. 

Donnie knocked him on the shell, opposite side of his injuries, “Don't,” he said sternly. 

“So I guess that means it's your fault for not noticing?” Mike managed to say through his teeth, grinning wide through the pain. 

Leo and Raph shared a look and Mikey actually lost consciousness for a second, he was laughing so hard. 

“You dumbass,” Raph said when he came to again, eyes wide and concerned. 

“I love you, too,” Mikey giggled through the stars.

*-*-*-*

They made it back to the lair in one piece, an hour earlier than they'd expected to, and found April and Casey holding the couch with the latter passed out, mouth open and sawing logs. April turned her head to greet them, saw that Leo was helping Mike through, and scrambled to her feet with her mouth still open. 

“What the hell happened?!” She said, ignoring the way Casey jerked awake at the other end of the couch and threw his arms around for a moment like he'd walked into a spider web before sense returned to him and he realized they weren't alone anymore. 

“I fell down some stairs,” Mike said tiredly, cracking a smile when Leo huffed beside him. 

“Literally.” Leo said, raising his brows at their humans, “A fire escape caved on him when he touched down on it.”

“Shit,” Casey said with some feeling, a look of sympathy crossing his face. 

Donnie slanted him a narrow look, “Language. Little ears.”

Which reminded Mike. He looked eagerly at them, then at the couch behind them when he saw Venus was missing. “Speaking of, where is our little shell-raiser?”

Casey blinked back like an owl from where he still sat on the couch that was, alarmingly, bare of a bite sized ninja. He looked at April in confusion, sensing his brothers tense as they came to the same conclusion. 

“You put her down, didn't you?” Leo moaned, exhausted and aging ten years before their eyes. 

“How long has she been gone?!” Raph said, voice raising a little in his panic. It'd be adorable if Mike himself, already overcharged with emotion, wasn't freaking out. 

“She's okay,” April said, raising her hands in a gesture of peace, “she wanted to lay down with Splinter for a while.”

Oh. Well, that was okay. But now that he was home? He was tired and hurt and confused by all of the stuff doing laps in his head and he really just wanted to hold Vee. She was tiny and sassy and small enough to be a teddy bear and he really just wanted to see for himself that she was alright. 

Leo was steering him away though, to Donnie's lab. Mike blanked out some, he must have, because next thing he was sitting down and both, Leo and Don, were fixing him up the best they could. Hard to do anything about the ribs with the shell in the way, but the shoulder and arm were rubbed down with ointment and his shell was cleaned and patched up. 

“Mikey,” Donnie said quietly at his shoulder, “you okay?”

“Yeah, bro. Just drained.” He yawned for emphasis on the 'drained' bit. 

The elder studied him from under a furrowed brow, then said, “I want you to sleep on the couch tonight. We'll-”

“Movie night?” Mickey suggested hopefully, giving Don and Leo his best puppy eyes, “Please? We haven't had one in months.”

“That sounds good,” Leo said, expression going soft. Mikey wanted to hug him. Instead he stared Donnie down until the taller nodded. 

“Alright. Leo? Get him to the couch? I'll check on dad.”

Mikey allowed himself to be gathered to his big brother's side and out they went. They headed for the couch and Casey gave up his seat without a word. Leo murmured a thank you to him and Mike gave him a passing one-sided fist bump to the shoulder. He eased down and rolled his head back into the cushion with a sigh that rattled through his shell. 

Small, smooth fingers stroked his brow and he sank into the touch, knowing who it belonged to without having to look. “Hey, Ape.”

“Hey,” She leaned closer without putting any weight on him and gently touched her fingers over the chip in the rim of his shell that marked where the crack was. “How are you feeling?”

“Scrambled,” He said honestly, “but okay. How'd your night go?”

“Nice and easy. Venus tried to sneak off when Casey fell asleep. Caught her red handed,” April chuckled to herself, “looked at me like I'd caught her raiding the cookie jar.”

She said more but he was nodding off. The murmur of the tv and the voices of his family throughout the lair were safe and familiar, and he found he couldn't keep his eyes open for one more second. 

Or so he thought. 

One of his brothers hissed something under their breath and another snapped back in the same tone. He sensed movement in front of him and managed to crack his eyes open in time to see Leo easing a little squirt down toward him. A squirt that was straining against his hands and reaching for Mike with chubby little fingers and the most serious expression ever on her face. 

His face split into a bright smile and he lifted his arms, one more gingerly than the other, and took hold of her and brought her in for cuddles. Venus' hands anchored down on the sides of his head and she buried her nose into his mask and breathed, deliberately scenting him like she was trying to reaffirm that he wasn't a figment of her imagination. 

And that. That did it. “Aw,” Mikey cooed at her, curling his good arm around her little body to fully support her, “it's okay. It's okay.” She nuzzled into him and he nuzzled back, eyes wet. “It's okay, Vee.”

She leaned back enough to look over his face. One hand barely touched over the scrapes he'd gotten on his cheek in his fall. She, pushed one palm against his chin and he obediently turned his head so she could see, then went the other way when nudged. The whole process reminded him, hysterically, of his brothers. Donnie, mostly, but also Leo. Then she checked his mask out, down to the tails, and noticed the bruising on his body. The scrapes on his plastron and the cracks in his carapace. 

She fidgeted when she saw the damage, brown eyes going round and glistening with tears. She looked absolutely terrified. Mike's heart broke for her. “I'm okay, sissy.” He took her hand and placed it back on his cheek, trying to get her attention on his face and not the bad stuff. “See? I came home. I'm okay.”

“'Ike,” She said, arms going around his neck and nose back to his mask. 

“Vee,” He hummed when she went back to nuzzling him, “you wanna watch a movie with us?”

She nodded and held tighter to him, like she'd agree to anything as long as he didn't disappear on her. 

Mike scuffed a hand down her scutes and smiled happily at his family as they gathered around him. No one said anything about the dampness of his mask, which was nice. Raph sank down on the floor on their end of the couch and Venus uncurled herself from Mike long enough to grab for his mask and make him look at her so she could do a health and wellness check on him, too. Raphie made a big show about rolling his eyes, but the tightness melted out of his face and he happily leaned in when Venus made to get some snuggles, both quietly scenting each other. 

Then, still hanging on to Mike, she stretched for Leo who was standing behind the couch and thumbing through their dvd collection. His expression turned gentle, too, and he gently scratched at her shell while she felt the scutes she could reach on his own carapace. More nuzzles. More scenting. An absolute overload of overprotective cuteness from the tiniest member of the family. 

Donnie helped Splinter out and as soon as he was in reach, Venus was stretching for him with an insistent, “D'ahn.”

“What's this now?” Donnie perked up, looking curiously between them all and noting the fluffy clouds and sunshine in their eyes. 

“She wants to make sure you're okay,” Mikey explained, helping her over by tilting himself closer without giving up his grip on her. She didn't mind. Venus made grabby hands for Don and he went to her with bright eyes. 

“This is new,” He said under his breath, taking great care to reciprocate all of Vee's concern. She even checked his glasses and his suspenders! Donnie let her, just like all of them had let her tug on their masks and wipe her hands all over them and cuddle them into piles of sappy goo. When she finally deemed his health acceptable, she returned to her huddle around Mike's neck. 

“She must really be worried about you,” Donnie remarked, adjusting his glasses. “She's checked each of us out before but never like this.”

“I told you,” Mikey shrugged his good shoulder, smiling into Venus' arm when she reached out to pet him over the jaw. “she wants us all to be okay.”

“Alright,” Raph said, clearing his throat awkwardly, “I'm not gonna lie. That was the cutest damn thing I've ever seen.”

April laughed. “It was adorable! I got some of it on video.”

Casey smirked from where he sat on the floor in front of April's legs. “That kids got every last one of you wrapped around her finger.”

“Her fingers and her toes,” Leo admitted under his breath. 

Michelangelo beamed. “You're just jealous.”

Then Casey's face went soft, too, and Mike wondered if maybe there was a kid somewhere out there that had him wrapped around his or her finger, too, because that? That was the expression they all wore when Venus was involved. That was the expression Leo still put on every once and a while when he looked at them, his brothers. That was a big brother face. 

“I'm not gonna lie,” Casey said, elbowing Raph while he imitated his deeper voice and getting a rough jab back, “I totally am jealous.”

Mikey settled back in the couch and soaked up all the love that was floating around the lair right then. He turned his head to Venus and whispered, “I love you,” to her like it was the best secret in the world. He kissed her hand when it pet over his face and was immediately attacked with more nuzzles. He laughed, recharged and ready to take on the world. Just as soon as his body healed and Venus let him out of her sight, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some cookies for the road:
> 
> *Venus's species, design and some of her mannerisms are based on a real yellow bellied slider named Puckeroni.  
> *Donnie never once lost sight of Venus. Maybe because he's a good brother, maybe just to spite their other brothers. We just don't know.  
> *Casey Jones gets wrapped around Venus's fingers and toes, too. He was doomed from the get-go.  
> *This is not a song-fic, but the title was inspired by Ellie Goulding's "How Long Will I Love You", which I thought was fitting from everyone's perspective in the family. Plus I just really love the song and it makes me think of my friend, whose memory this story was dedicated to.


	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So for some unfathomable reason I have really just had the worst luck with the sequel for this. 
> 
> I had it halfway finished and the program/app I was using did a hard crash where it deleted everything I had for it and shut down before I could recover it. So I lost everything. Start to finish. I'm not going to lie- I cried. I was so frustrated. I deleted the program and found another one.
> 
> So I took a break. And I started it over from the beginning and wrote what I remembered. Got about, mm, twelve chapters in? Had another incident where I lost it today. Again. And I really can't even bring myself to think about it anymore. 
> 
> Anyway, I decided to go ahead and post this since I've been quiet for a while and to give you guys an update. I'm still going to try to write it, but it definitely won't be ready as soon as I'd hoped. 
> 
> The feedback on this story was wholesome <3 Thanks to everyone who read!

“You're not watching ya feet,” Raphael said, sweeping toward her and executing a perfect and gentle takedown. Or, it would've been, if Venus didn't instinctively charge into him instead of lean back and away like she should've. He tried to adjust, but he was too far into the move to actually pull back. His elbow connected in the soft spot of her shoulder and she yelped. 

“OW! Bubba-” Venus' insulted shout quickly unfurled into a feral snarl following the very solid thump of a much heavier body hitting the floor. Raphael's 'oof' was almost as loud and had Michelangelo laughing himself stupid further inside the dojo. 

Leonardo smiled quietly to himself from where he was seated beside their father, each of them enjoying a hot cup of tea. They looked on fondly while Venus took full retribution on their brother, dropping all of the grace of her ninja training to climb up to his plastron and wail on him with clenched fists like a true bruiser. There was nothing in it but anger, no finesse whatsoever.

“Get him, Vee!” Mike shouted, hands cupped over his mouth for volume even though his was already the loudest voice in the room, “use the chair!”

Raphael got over his shock in time to cover his face from a particularly nasty looking punch, his body shaking with laughter even though his ass was on the floor and he was essentially getting beat into submission by a seven and a half year old girl. 

“Unbelievable,” Donnie said from Mike's side, chin propped in his hand. He'd been working on and off on a small project, but now the tech lay forgotten at his knee. “thirty minutes ago she was all focus and delicate hands while she soldered circuits.”

“She was reading classic literature before breakfast,” Leo pointed out thinking back on waking up to a little sister crawling into bed with him, book in hand, and the peaceful rest he found listening to her read to him. Leo himself only spoke up once or twice to help her through a difficult word, or explain a passage in the story so she understood it better. 

Leo went back to watching as Raphael caged his arms around Venus and rolled. She wouldn't release him, not even when he pinned her to the mats and tried to pull himself free. Her swinging fists opened into a vice like grip around his mask tails. 

“That hurt!” She said irritably, brown eyes alight with fire. 

“It wouldn't have if ya had instincts to match your size,” Raphael, realizing that he wouldn't be getting away from her, leaned down instead to nuzzle her in an attempt to comfort. “Cripes, Vee. You're not supposed to charge at somethin' dangerous and ten times ya size. You're supposed to be smart and run from it.”

“None of you run,” She pointed out, but loosened her claws on him and turned her face into his mask. 

Raphael pulled away enough to raise a brow at her, “Yeah, because we ain't snack sized like you.” He flicked her gently on the nose, to which she screwed her face up in irritation, “list ya strengths.”

“I'm fast,” Venus said with confidence, “I'm smart. I'm quiet. I know the best hiding places. I can disappear.”

“Right,” This time he tapped her on the temple, “notice that 'bullet proof' and 'big' aren't on that list?”

“I can be tough,” Venus argued. “I'm your sister. I can be as strong as I need to be, it just takes time.” There was so much feeling, so much belief and pride in her claim that it made their hearts squeeze. 

Raphael's face softened, “You're the toughest of us, no doubt about it,” he agreed, and it meant something important to him and Venus both, “but the whole point of us being here is that you don't have to be that strong.”

Venus didn't like that at all and it was clear in her expression. She crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest, managing to perfectly balance on the curve of her carapace so she stayed facing up and staring in disagreement at him. 

Rolling his eyes, Raphael settled more firmly over his arms, redistributing his weight and properly enclosing her in his embrace to cover her from the outside world. A guardian protecting his charge from any and every danger, even the ones that couldn't be seen. Venus calmed in his shadow, old, animal instincts telling her she was covered and safe. Her mutant ones reacted to the smell of a trusted sibling and most of the fight slid right out of her. 

Whether she intended to or not, she was giving clear signals that she trusted him to keep her safe, just like she trusted Leo, Don, Mike, Splinter, April and Casey, but none more than her brothers and father. And that. That was special the same way she was. Raphael remembered climbing metaphorical mountains way back at the beginning, when Venus was the size of a turkey and terrified of anyone that so much as breathed in her direction, to make her feel this safe. 

“Stay little for as long as you can,” He said quietly, looking into her big brown eyes, “let us keep you safe. Don't worry about gettin' big and bad just yet.”

Venus huffed dramatically and Raphael huffed back even more so just to aggravate her. Then, apparently forgiving him, she reached for his face and pulled him back down to nuzzle and scent him and released. Raphael got to his feet, scooping her up in his arm as he went and plopping her back down on her feet. 

Little Venus made a show of wiping her palms off on her leggings then backtracked a few steps and slipped back into a low stance, feet apart and solid on the ground. Raphael eyed her for a moment and took his place again to try once more. This time, however, he came directly at her rather than simply do the katas with her. He wanted to see if anything he'd said had stuck, or if she was going to be hardheaded.

Venus focused in an instant, and just like he'd harped on her, she twisted and fled the opposite direction to put some space between them. 

“Venus-” Leo's aborted shout went unheard as she deftly tucked around him before Raph could stop. Splinter lifted Leo's cup from his hand the same moment Raph collided with him and sent the two of them tumbling and wildly flailing at each other. 

Mikey lost it, howling with laughter and stretching his entire body out to offer a high five to Venus. She took it, the light smack of their palms swallowed in the angry roars of their elder brothers as their turtle tumble weed shuddered with thrown punches and lashing kicks. 

Then she settled on the seat Leo had just vacated and took his tea cup from their father's hand. She drank quietly from it and watched, prim and proper again while Splinter shook his head in fond exasperation at their antics.

*-*-*-*

Casey was exhausted down to the marrow of his bones, but damned if he didn't feel good after a night of running with the boys, kicking ass and making the streets of their city a little safer crook by crook. He stomped tiredly up to his apartment, shaking his still-tingly arms out while he peeled his gloves off and stuffed them into his jacket alongside his mask. Funny how a few minor wardrobe changes could make him look less like a hockey mask wearing horror to an every day joe on his way home from a long day at work. 

He flipped his phone out to fire off a few texts- one to April for the sake of bugging her, another to Raph to let him know he made it back safe. He stepped into the elevator and punched for the fifth floor. He turned about in time to see a scrawny ass kid coming barreling down the hallway, bag over her shoulder and teeth grit like she had hell hounds on her ass. 

“Hold the door!” She shouted, voice kinda high and kinda rough, girly but tough in a way. 

Casey didn't even question it, either her being in a rush or some little kid being out by themselves at all. He swung his arm out to block the doors from closing and said, “Well come on, kid!”

She sped into the little suspended box with a heave and leaned right into his personal space to see the buttons. She tracked a dirty finger down to the lit one he'd already hit, nodded to herself, then leaned back. 

Casey looked around one last time before he let the doors shut. He glanced down at the kid for a moment, caught her eying him up the way only girls or women did when they had enough experience to be leery of a man. It set his teeth on edge- this punk was just that. A punk. Way too damn young to have been harrassed. 

She looked less than thirteen years old, coltish and soft under all of the street grime. Her skin was brown, eyes dark and hair that was thick and black. She had features, as young as they were, that were soft and sharp at the same time. Her clothes were ratty and torn, too thin to be wearing outside this time of year- and she had been outside, he could feel the cold radiating off of her and smell it- with a hoody on that was too baggy to be anything but intentional.

He took one look at her and instinctively knew she was tough as nails. 

“What's with the golf bag,” She said suddenly, “and why so much stuff?”

Casey made a show of eying her the same way she'd done him, but was careful to keep his hands in sight and on his hips so he never looked like he was about to draw or grab for her. “Duffle bag sure is noisy,” He said, “what's with all of that clinking?”

She went stiff, leaned back on her heels and cut him a look that said he'd get his ass beat if he didn't straighten up. Huh. He hadn't gotten one of those since the last time he pissed April off. 

“You didn't see or hear anything, you got me?” The kid said, giving him her best laser eyes. 

Casey snorted. He was pretty sure he'd eaten hamburgers bigger than this girl. “How 'bout we cut a deal, kid?”

“I'm not a kid,” She snapped. 

“Alright,” Casey nodded, like he was genuinely considering not giving her a hard time, “alright, princess,” Oh, if looks could kill, he'd be ten feet under and buried face down, “you don't say nothing else about my accessories, and I won't say nothing else about yours. You got me?”

“I got you,” She muttered angrily, face all twisted up and serious and for a moment Casey was thinking about another little kid. A little green one that was sneaky and quick and had attitude in spades. 

God, he missed that little brat. Casey had been collecting some odds and ends since their last visit to trade with her. Venus, though she was rarely allowed out of anyone's sight and was only allowed to venture out of the lair with a full lineup of armed bodyguards and a pre-planned, cleared path, found some neat shit sometimes. She was always up for a trade, which was cool. Every once and a while he found some little treasures, too. It was their thing. 

Casey coughed into his hand to hide the grin on his face, then returned it to it's proper always-in-sight place at his hip. 

The elevator creaked to a stop and they waited for the doors to open. The kid waited until he started to step ahead before barging ahead of him, all but shoving him back. She beat feet down the hall, head turned and counting doors until she slowed down to a sneaky tip toe all the way up to what he assumed was her apartment. Casey lagged behind, hands shoved down in his pockets now and eyes focused on her. 

Before she even opened the door it slammed open and The Grandma emerged, dressed in a comfy house dress and practical slippers, completely offsetting the stony look on her face. “Angel!” She said, “Where have you been, child?!”

Casey smirked at the name and the way the kid instantly bowed down. Also like Venus, whenever she was getting sternly lectured by her brothers. 

A heated exchange of mixed languages filled the hallway, rapid-fire up until the point Casey walked past with a casual wave at Grandma, who stopped her tirade to lift bright eyes to him. 

“Casey!” She said, voice warm. 

“Good evening, Mrs. Gonzalez,” Casey greeted, tone just as warm. He knew the elder woman well, had swung by to help her with the odd favor now and then, as he had done for many of the people living in the building. He'd been aware for a while that she had children and grandchildren, though they'd never come to stay with her. Or, not since he'd moved in, at least. 

Angel turned hellfire eyes on him, managing to look betrayed even though they were still strangers. He sent her a cheeky grin. 

“You've met Angel? I'm looking after her, now.” The woman said, eying her grandchild with narrow brown eyes, “she's a handful, this one.” She muttered under her breath, then nodded toward him, “Casey is a police officer and he lives right down the hall. If you find anymore trouble, I'll send him after you, understand?”

Angel's head snapped around to stare at her grandmother in disbelief, “Him?!”

“Me,” Casey said, nudging her with an elbow as he moved past, “don't worry, Mrs. Gonzalez! I'll keep an eye on her!”

“I don't need you!” Angel snapped at him, swinging a bony elbow back at him. 

Casey let it land even though he could have easily sidestepped it, faking a wince to make her feel better. “Ouch, princess.”

“I am not a princess!”

“Hush!” Grandma huffed, “Inside, now! Your brother and I have been worried sick about you!” And just like that, Angel was hustled inside. 

Casey whistled as soon as the door closed behind them, “Shit,” He said with feeling, sincerely hoping that there would never be a day when Angel and Venus crossed paths. Between their attitudes, Angel's toughness and Venus' hardheadedness, the entire city would be up in flames. Talk about a super villain team up, they'd be unstoppable.

He'd have to get April to film every second of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Venus is roughly seven and a half years old, while Angel is closer to nine or ten.
> 
> I kinda picture everyone pitching in on training Venus like they do on caring for her every day, especially with Splinter aging. They're mostly all on the same page, whether by talking to each other about it or the other members of the family sitting in on sessions like they're seen doing here. She's still in early stages of her training and hasn't shown an affinity for any one kind/style of weapon and is still maskless. 
> 
> If you caught some of the cookies I dropped in Leo's and Donnie's conversation, you'll note that she's wedged herself pretty firmly into everyone's business- between being Donnie's helper and sharing Leo's early morning routine. She's got special things she does with everyone that's unique to them, but those will be revealed with time.
> 
> As for the second half of this epilogue- I'm basing this version of Angel "Bridge" on the 2003 TMNT cartoon. If I recall correctly, she and her brother lost their parents at an early age and were raised by their grandmother, who asked Casey to look after them, which we see take place here. I need to go back and watch her episodes, but I'm kind of mashing things I remember with my own ideas for the story. I don't remember if they gave her mother a maiden name, so if she cannonly has one, let me know. 
> 
> I've really enjoyed writing Casey and I look forward to doing more of him. Also, I never explained this in the story when I should have, but Casey is an older brother to a sister that still lives with their dad, which is why he does this thing where he gets attached to feisty little girls who remind him of her.
> 
> I'm going to go ahead and make this into a series so y'all can bookmark it and get pinged whenever I finally manage to actually finish the damn sequel. I'm so upset by losing it twice in a row- I have been steadily writing for ten years and have NEVER had that happen before, never mind twice in a row.

**Author's Note:**

> This began as a birthday gift to my best friend who passed away last year. She adored everything TMNT and it was one of many fandoms we grew up in together (roughly 10 years) and we watched all of the series and movies available to us. Rest in peace, Princess. <3
> 
> Updates will be once a week on Monday mornings-afternoons. The story is already finished, so posting should go uninterrupted from start to finish unless I lose access to the internet for whatever reason on that day. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone that stopped by! I hope you all have a wonderful day, and that this little project distracted you from any troubles you may have for a little bit and made you smile. Love you!


End file.
